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Plant systematics worldTAXON 61 (3) • June 2012: 693–697

eDWarD groesBeck voss (1929–2012)

Edward Groesbeck Voss, known to many for his work on the flora and plant geography of Michigan, botanical history, and bo-tanical nomenclature, died on 13 February 2012 at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. after a brief illness. He was born on 22 February 1929 in Delaware, Ohio, U.S.A, and after high school in Toledo, Ohio, he completed his education with a bachelor’s degree with honors from Denison University (1950), and a master’s in Biology (1951) and a doctoral degree in Botany (1954), both from the University of Michigan. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Denison University in 2003.

In 1956, he began his long associa-tion with the University of Michigan Her-barium, appointed as a research associate beginning a five-year project to docu-ment the flora of Michigan. He joined the Botany faculty in 1960 as assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor (1963), and professor (1969). He continued his painstakingly precise study of the flora of Michigan, culminat-ing 40 years later with the appearance of the third volume of the Michigan Flora in 1996; the same year that he retired and was granted Professor Emeritus status. He also served as Curator of Vascular Plants at the Herbarium from 1961 until his retirement in 1996; he continued to work at the herbarium until late in 2011.

Ed’s research focused on the vascular plants of the Great Lakes region: their taxonomy, identification, phytogeography, postglacial history, and status in natural environments; with a par-ticular interest in boreal plants and aquatic plants. He maintained a small herbarium at his cottage in Mackinaw City, Michigan. Ed was also very interested in Lepidoptera, and was honored in 2011 as a founding member of the Lepidopterists’ Society. He also collected Lepidoptera of the northern Great Lakes area. He founded and edited the first 15 volumes of The Michigan Botanist, the scientific journal of the Michigan Botanical Club focusing on botany of Michigan and the Great Lakes region; a series of articles including a complete bibliography, will appear in that journal later this year.

Coincident with his floristic research, Ed was a perennial in-structor at The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), spending 55 summers (through 2008) imparting his encyclopedic knowledge of the flora of the region. Ed had received an early in-troduction to the station when his parents took Ed, then 9 years old, to a “Visitor’s Day” at UMBS. He was honored at the Station by a special “Dr. Edward Voss Celebration” Weekend in 2009.

Readers are likely familiar with another side of Ed’s career; his service to nomenclature via service on the General and Editorial Committees. He was a member of the Editorial Committee from 1969 to 1993 (i.e., from the Seattle to the Berlin Codes, but was unable to attend the Tokyo Congress in 1993) and served as the Secretary of the Committee for the Seattle and Leningrad Codes, and Chair for the Sydney Code. Frans Stafleu, perhaps on the ad-

vice of Ed’s colleague Rogers McVaugh, recruited him as his replacement as Vice-rapporteur and Secretary of the Editorial Committee, when Stafleu succeeded Lan-jouw as Rapporteur-général and Chair of the Editorial Committee.

During his time as Vice-rapporteur, Ed was also Secretary of the General Committee (as Stafleu had been be-fore him), and continued as Secretary even after taking over from Stafleu as Rapporteur-général shortly before the Sydney Congress. He became Chair of the General Committee at the Berlin Congress in 1987 (being succeeded by Dan Nicolson as Secretary), a position he held until the St. Louis Congress in 1999, when he essentially retired from nomenclatural activity.

Ed was meticulous in all that he did—as one who shared a room with him in the Villa Dröge for EC meetings in Berlin, I (JM) can attest to this includ-ing phenomenal tidiness(!)—and served

nomenclature well and efficiently. His penchant for editorial detail made him an ideal person to deal with the intricacies and nuances that are often encountered in dealing with nomenclature and ap-plying the rules.

Ed received awards for the first two volumes of Michigan Flora; the first volume was honored by a Resolution of the Michi-gan Senate in 1972, while the second volume received the H.A. Gleason Award from the New York Botanical Garden in 1986. The Michigan Botanical Club also presented a lifetime achievement award to Ed in 1998.

Ed was devoted to conservation of natural areas and worked to educate others around him, always concerned that the information about the flora being used in decision making was as accurate as possible. He was well known to students, professionals, and ama-teurs alike, sharing his passion for botany equally with all. His pre-cision, wit (often as clever puns), command of the English language, and propensity for being thrifty all added up to make him “Ed”—a unique man who left his mark on the study of the Michigan flora and nomenclature alike.

Richard K. Rabeler (MICH), Anton A. Reznicek (MICH) & John McNeill (E)

Edward Groesbeck Voss, 2004 (photo by John Russell).