JOURNAL OF THE KENTUCKY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



ISSN 1098-7096 



Continuation of 

 Transactions of the Kentucky Academy of Science 



Volume 66 Fall 2005 Number 2 



J. Ky. Acad. Sci. 66(2):73-81. 2005. 



John W. Thieret 

 (1926-2005) 



Ralph L. Thompson 



Berea College Herbarium, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky 40404-2121 



ABSTRACT 



John W. Thieret (1926-2005), an internationally recognized American plant taxonomist, is remembered 

 as a consummate field botanist, exemplary teacher, acclaimed author, superb editor, fine herbarium director, 

 inspiring mentor to students and colleagues, and noble friend. 



One of the most renowned American plant 

 taxonomists of the 20th century has died. It is 

 with great sadness and a profound sense of 

 loss that I write this tribute about the life and 

 career of John W. Thieret, Professor Emeritus 

 of Biological Sciences at Northern Kentucky 

 University, retired Director of the Northern 

 Kentucky University Herbarium, and Editor 

 of the Journal of the Kentucky Academy of 

 Science (JKAS). John suffered a brain aneu- 

 rysm at his home in Alexandria, Kentucky, on 

 6 December 2005, while editing a manuscript 

 for the JKAS. He never regained conscious- 

 ness and died on 7 December at the age of 

 79. 



John Thieret was a gifted botanist, excellent 

 educator, wise scholar, and gentleman. He 

 dearly loved his family, and after family, his 

 great passion was plants. Although John was 

 focused on botany his entire life, he had other 

 diverse interests including classical music, par- 

 ticularly opera. He also enjoyed sharing his 

 knowledge far beyond botany and the natural 

 sciences through verbal discourse about di- 

 verse topics in history, literature, art, religion, 

 and the social sciences. 



John William Thieret was born on 1 August 

 1926, in Chicago, Illinois, the only child of 

 Hans and Lorena Thieret. Growing up, he was 



interested in plants and became an avid stu- 

 dent of botany during his school days at Hyde 

 Park High School. At Hyde Park, John met his 

 future wife, Mildred Wolf, fittingly in a botany 

 class. After working briefly in Chicago, John 

 moved to Logan, Utah, to study at Utah State 

 University. Three years later, Mildred also 

 moved to Logan and attended Utah State. 

 They were married on 13 March 1950, by one 

 of their professors, after completing their Evo- 

 lution final exams. Both earned their B.S. de- 

 grees in 1950: John's in Botany and Mildred's 

 in Bacteriology. They remained at Utah State 

 University for graduate work and in 1951, 

 John earned his M.S. in Botany with focus on 

 barley genetics and Mildred completed her 

 M.S. in Bacteriology. They returned to Chi- 

 cago, where John attended the University of 

 Chicago to work on his doctorate under Theo- 

 dor K. Just, Chief Curator of the Chicago 

 Field Museum of Natural History. John re- 

 ceived his Ph.D. in Botany in 1953. The title 

 of John's dissertation was "Gross Morphology 

 of the Seeds of the Scrophulariaceae and Clas- 

 sification of the Family." 



Later in 1953, John became Assistant Cu- 

 rator of Economic Botany at the Chicago 

 Field Museum and then Curator of Economic 

 Botany from 1954 to 1961. While at the Field 



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