JOURNAL 
OF 
The New York Botanical Garden 
Vo. IV. October, 1903. No. 46. 
WILLIAM EARL DODGE. 
By the death of Mr. Dodge, on the gth of August last, the 
New York Botanical Garden lost one of its most devoted mem- 
bers and most generous patrons, while the Board of Managers, 
the officers and staff, were deprived of a wise and ever willing 
advisor, a true friend and greatly esteemed associate. He was 
one of the original incorporators named in the Charter of 1894, 
was a member of the Board of Managers from its organization in 
1895, and served continuously on the Executive Committee and, 
at times, on the Finance Committee. But, in addition to his 
formal and official duties, he voluntarily assumed personal rela- 
tions with almost every phase of the Garden’s work and took 
pleasure in closely watching its development in detail, often driv- 
ing to the Garden from his Riverdale home to confer with the 
Director and his assistants, encouraging them by his approval 
and aiding them with valuable counsel. Never was his advice 
sought in vain and never was an opinion given that was not 
worth following. 
A liberal subscriber to the original Endowment Fund, he still 
sought frequent opportunities of contributing to the Garden’s 
various undertakings and always did so in a way to indicate that 
he considered it a privilege to assist in the promotion of re- 
search and the enlargement of knowledge. He fully appreciated 
the preéminent importance of the scientific and educational work 
carried on by the Garden and saw clearly the value of its collec- 
tions and the necessity for steadily building them up. Realizing 
from the first that the most satisfactory way of acquiring knowl- 
169 
