Arthur Cronquist - Life

Life

Arthur Cronquist was born on March 19, 1919 in San Jose, California, but he grew up outside of Portland, Oregon as well as in Pocatello, Idaho. His parents divorced when he was young and he and his older sister were brought up by his mother who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Pocatello. The young boy was an avid member of the Boy Scouts of America, through which he gained an appreciation for the outdoors. He did his undergraduate work at the Southern Branch of the University of Idaho (now Idaho State University). During his time there he studied field botany under Ray J. Davis, who was compiling the Flora of Idaho at the time. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1938, he went on to earn a master's degree at Utah State University in 1940 working under Bassett Maguire. In the same year he married Mabel Allred, who he remained with until his death. They had two children and a fondness for cats.

Due to a childhood accident, Cronquist's right arm was partially disabled, making him unfit for military service in World War II. Instead he began work on his doctorate at the University of Minnesota under C.O. Rosendahl, earning his PhD in 1944. His dissertation was a revision of the genus Erigeron. In 1943, while still working on his doctorate, he was offered a position at the New York Botanical Garden to work on Asteraceae for "The New Britton & Brown Illustrated Flora" then in preparation by Henry Gleason. From 1946 to 1948 he held a position at the University of Georgia, followed by a three year position at Washington State University. Before returning to the New York Botanical Garden where he would spend the rest of his career, he worked as a botanist in Brussels with the U.S. Foreign Aid Program from 1951 to 1952. He died of heart failure on March 22, 1992 while studying specimens of Mentzelia at the herbarium at Brigham Young University.