Stuart Fullerton
Stuart M. Fullerton (March 8, 1940 – April 5, 2014) was an American
Fullerton was born in
He became a
Fullerton retired from the museums in 1990.[3] He continued to amass a large collection of insect specimens after retirement.[3] He relocated his collection a larger facility at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 1993 at the invitation of David Vickers, the chairman of the Department of Biology.[3][4]
Fullerton taught UCF mology lab courses as a volunteer without receiving a salary.[1] He established the Bug Closet, which houses more than a half million insects, many of which are indigenous to Central Florida.[1] Fullerton sought to make the collection the definitive resource for information on insects in Florida.[1] The Bug Closet also contains examples of insects from around the world, including Brazil and Mexico, but it remains dedicated to Central Floridian insects.[4]
Fullerton collected insects found on the UCF campus and recruited undergraduate students to expand the collection.[1] Two species housed in the collection were named in honor of Fullerton.[1] Fullerton also oversaw the digitization of the Bug Closet collection, which made it available online from anywhere in the world.[1] In 2012, Fullerton described Florida's native bees, or hymenoptera, as his favorite group within the Bug Closet.[3]
Stuart Fullerton, a resident of Oviedo, Florida, died on April 5, 2014, at the age of 74.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Clarke, Sara K. (2014-04-10). "Stuart Fullerton: Curator who founded 'Bug Closet' at UCF". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
- ^ Clarke, Sara K. (2014-04-10). "Stuart Fullerton: Curator who founded 'Bug Closet' at UCF". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
- ^ a b c d e f Judsen, Sarah (November 2012). "Bug Guru: Stuart Fullerton, 72, is the colorful keeper of UCF's Bug Closet, home to nearly half a million dearly departed specimens". Orlando Magazine. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
- ^ a b McCandele, Gretha (2010-03-03). "UCF Biology department boasts one big bug collection held in "Bug Closet"". Central Florida Future. Archived from the original on 2014-05-04. Retrieved 2014-05-04.