James Wessell Gerdemann
James Wessell Gerdemann (November 13, 1921 – December 19, 2008) was an American
Biography and academic education
James Wessel Gerdemann was born on November 13, 1921, in Pendleton, Missouri, and died at the age of 87 on December 19, 2008, in Yachats, Oregon. His parents were Carl Gerdemann and Cora Wessel.
Since his childhood he showed his love in growing plants, an example of this passion is his vast cactus collection, which he used as decoration of his house's cellar during winter. He graduated at the age of 16 in a local high school and started working in a store owned by his father and uncle, the Gerdemann's store was with the family for approximately 90 years. When his father needed to do business in St. Louis, Gerdemann used to be dropped off at the Missouri Botanical Garden, developing, then, his will to achieve something different as a career.
Gerdemann completed his undergraduate and Master's degree in botany at the University of Missouri. To make his way through college he lived a simple life and had several jobs to pay his studies. He worked as a waiter at a women's college; had the responsibility of counting seeds and correct mistakes in the inventory records at the University's herbarium, where he was recognized for his knowledge about plants; and during summers he had a job at the Oregon Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, working inside Oregon's forests with the management of a fungal disease that affects white pine, the white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola). This last experience brought him the gratitude for Oregon's environment and his permanent love for the region.
After achieving his B.S and M.S degrees in Botany at the University of Missouri, he attained an assistantship at the
In Illinois his family started to increase after he met Janice Olbrich in 1942 and marry her six months later on July 2, 1942. In order to accomplish the couple's wish to have a big family, they had three kids, Steve, Dale, and Glenn, who they would often take to vacations in Oregon to have fun in the forest camping and hiking.
Career
James Wessel Gerdemann had a brilliant career in Champaign-Urbana. He became known worldwide for his research in mycorrhiza fungi and by showing the importance of the association of such fungus with many families of plants in various papers published in plant pathology and mycological journals. His research with plants from the genus Rhododendron also brought him a lot of recognition. In 1989 he wrote about the importance of breeding for hardy Vireya Rhododendrons and its freeze tolerance (Gerdemann, 1989[3]).
However, the vast majority of his work was in
During his career, Dr. Gerdemann took two sabbatical periods from
References
- S2CID 5448583.
- ^ "History". Gerdemann Botanic Preserve. Archived from the original on 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2012-09-15.
- ^ Gerdemann, James Wessel (1989). "Breeding for hardy Vireya rhododendrons" (PDF). American Rhododendron Society Journal. 43 (2): 75–77.
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External links
- Corvallis Gazette-Times Obituary
- Leptodiscus terrestris Gerd.
- Gerdemann Botanical Garden Gerdemann Botanical Garden