In MemoriaInMemoriam W
e recently learned of the passing of two mycologists, Dorothy
McMeekin and Jim Deacon. I was saddened to learn of Dorothy
McMeekin’s passing, I had enjoyed many articles she had written for the British Mycological Society’s Te Mycologist journal which ended its run many years ago.
1932-2020 Dorothy “Dot” McMeekin was
remembered by Michigan State University, where she taught for many years, as a “modest, kind, gentle person with a quiet strength and the sort of fortitude one needed to succeed in the years before women were accepted in the sciences.” Dorothy was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 24, 1932 to Vera Sarah Crockatt and Tomas Leroy McMeekin, a noted inventor and Harvard research chemist who developed a protocol for isolating insulin. Dorothy graduated from Wilson College in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Chemistry in 1953. After receiving her Master’s degree in Botany from Wellesley College in 1955, she went on to receive her PhD in Plant Pathology,
Physiology and Bacteriology from Cornell University in 1959. Sixty years ago when Dorothy McMeekin began a career in the sciences, there were few women in her field. After teaching at Upsala College from 1959 to 1964 and Bowling Green State University from 1964–1966, that fall she put her roots down at Michigan State University with an academic appointment in the General Education Department of the College of Natural Science from 1966 to 1990 and then in the Botany and Plant Pathology department from 1990 until her retirement in 1997 as Professor Emerita. She published original research on fungi in journals including Mycologia, Plant Growth Regulation, Mycology, Phytopathology and Te Plant Disease Reporter as well as a number of laboratory manuals, including “Ecology, Diversity, and Evolution” and “Approaching the Environment.” Dr. McMeekin served on the board of directors for the Michigan Botanical Club and was a member of the American Phytopathological Society, the Mycological Society of America, the Society for Economic Botany, the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, Sigma Xi, Te Scientific Research Honor Society and Phi Kappa Phi. She passed away in East Lansing at the age of 88. I was also saddened to hear of the
passing of Jim Deacon. I used his textbook Introduction to Modern Mycology several times while teaching a college course in mycology. Te book is still widely available and can even be obtained as a free pdf online. James W. Deacon, formerly of Edinburgh University, was remembered by the British Mycological Society as “a long-serving member of the BMS, and author of numerous works on fungal biology.” Jim Deacon graduated from Hull University in 1968 then did a PhD on “Survival of the eyespot fungus (Cercosporella herpotrichoides) and other cereal foot-rot fungi on infected wheat stubble” at the University of Cambridge School of Botany supervised by Professor Denis Garrett in 1968–1971. He followed this up with a further two year’s post doc research
1947-2021
from 1971–1973 on Ophiobolus Patch Disease of turf (caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis) and its control by Phialophora graminicola in the same lab at Cambridge. He joined Edinburgh University as a lecturer in the Microbiology Dept in September 1973 where he worked until his retirement in 2008. Te majority of his research work concerned plant-microbe-fungal interactions, particularly working on soil fungi and root pathogens causing take all disease (Gaeumannomyces graminis) and other pathogens (Pythium, Phytophthora, Aphanomyces spp.). He published over 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, was keynote speaker at international symposia and congresses around the world, and acted as a consultant to biotechnology companies. He published several books, including his Introduction to Modern Mycology first published in 1980, which ran into 4 editions, and was well-used and loved by students as an easy-to- digest introduction to the world of fungi. In 2010 Jim was awarded the BMS Benefactor’s Medal for his research and contributions to education, including his very successful textbooks on Fungal Biology and his website (http://archive.
bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/FungalBiology/ index.htm) still freely available for use. –Britt A. Bunyard
Fall 2021 FUNGI Volume 14:4 3
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