Clark Thomas Rogerson Explained

Clark Thomas Rogerson
Birth Date:2 October 1918
Birth Place:Ogden, Utah
Death Place:Ogden, Utah
Fields:Mycology
Alma Mater:Cornell University
Doctoral Advisor:Harry Morton Fitzpatrick
Known For:Taxonomy of the Hypocreales
Author Abbrev Bot:Rogerson

Clark Thomas Rogerson, (2 October 1918 – 7 September 2001), was an American mycologist. He was known for his work in the Hypocreales (Ascomycota), particularly Hypomyces, a genus of fungi that parasitize other fungi. After receiving his doctorate from Cornell University in 1950, he went on to join the faculty of Kansas State University. In 1958, he became a curator at The New York Botanical Garden, and served as editor for various academic journals published by the Garden. Rogerson was involved with the Mycological Society of America, serving in various positions, including president in 1969. He was managing editor (1958–89) and editor-in-chief (1960–65) of the scientific journal Mycologia.

Biography

C.T. Rogerson was born on October 2, 1918, in Ogden, Utah, to parents Elijah Knapp Rogerson (1899–1956) and Mable Crissie Clarke Rogerson (1897–1987). Upon graduating from high school in 1936, he enrolled in Weber Junior College (since renamed to Weber State University) for the following two years. Rogerson then attended Utah State University, where he had hoped to work under the supervision of botanist Bassett Maguire, but settled instead for the only available studentship with plant pathologist B.L. Richards. Rogerson received his Bachelor of Science from Utah State University in 1940. Soon after, he was drafted into the army, and spent three years (1942–1945) in the Pacific Theater of World War II. He served as a technical sergeant in laboratory and pharmacy at an army evacuation hospital, and cared for internees released in the Philippines near the war's end. During his war years, Rogerson made collections of plants, fungi, slime molds, and butterflies that he sent to Cornell or to the Smithsonian Institution.

After the war finished, Rogerson continued studying fungal systematics and started a doctoral program with Harry Morton Fitzpatrick at Cornell University; noted mycologist Richard Korf was another of Fitzpatrick's graduate students at the time. Under Fitzpatrick, Rogerson studied Hypomyces fungi and their anamorphs. Fitzpatrick committed suicide in 1950, and Donald S. Welch replaced him as Rogerson's advisor for the last few months of his doctoral program. Rogerson received his doctorate from Cornell in 1950. That year, he joined the faculty of Kansas State University as an assistant professor, but he would ultimately advance to associate professor. While at Kansas, he worked on the identification of fungi, and published nearly 20 papers on fungal taxonomic novelties, aeromycology (the fungal flora of air), and plant diseases caused by fungi.

In 1958, the director of The New York Botanical Garden, William Jacob Robbins, recruited Rogerson for the position of Curator of Cryptogamic Botany. Rogerson became Senior Curator in 1967 and Senior Curator Emeritus at his retirement in 1990. As curator of cryptogamic botany, Rogerson "was directly responsible for all accessions and loans of ferns and mosses, as well as of fungi and lichens, until about 1965 when, first a bryologist and later a pteridologist were added to the cryptogamic staff." At the Garden, he also continued his study on the taxonomy of the Ascomycetes, especially of Hypomyces, a genus of fungi that parasitize other fungi, and the fungal diversity of New York and Utah. Additionally, he served as editor of the Garden's publications: Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden (1963–88), North American Flora (1963–88), and Flora Neotropica (1969–83). While at the Garden, Rogerson was also an adjunct professor of biology at Columbia University and at the Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York.

During his tenure at the Garden, Rogerson was also a deeply involved member of the Mycological Society of America (MSA). He served as managing editor (1958–89) and editor-in-chief (1960–65) of the scientific journal Mycologia. He was vice-president (1967), president elect (1968), and president of the MSA (1969), and secretary-treasurer of the society from 1973 to 1974. He has served as historian of the Mycological Society of America from 1960 to 1990. Rogerson was a generous donor to MSA student travel awards. He died in Ogden on September 7, 2001.

Mycological contributions

Rogerson added many thousands of records of fungi, mainly from Utah, to the Garden herbarium, where his specimens are available for study by systematists. Rogerson assisted in the formation of the three major amateur mushroom groups in the New York City area: the New York Mycological Association, the New Jersey Mycological Association, and the Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association (COMA). He helped amateur mycologists correctly identify fungal specimens during his weekends. "In return, amateur mycologists provided him with many specimens of fungicolous Hypomyces."

In 1970, Rogerson presented a detailed history of the Hypocreales and reviewed changes in the circumscription of the order up to that time. His publication included keys to the genera of both the Hypocreales and Clavicipitales, followed by a list of genera, each with the literature citation of the original descriptions and type species. He included 115 genera in the Hypocreales.

Taxa described

Mycological lineage

Clark T. Rogerson belongs to the Dudley mycological lineage, which can be traced back to Anton De Bary, a famous German mycologist. William Russell Dudley was Assistant Professor of Cryptogamic Botany at Cornell University from 1883 to 1892, and received mycological training from De Bary in 1887. Joseph Charles Arthur, George Francis Atkinson, and Mason B. Thomas studied under Dudley. Thomas went to Wabash College, where he would influence Harry Morton Fitzpatrick to study mycology. Fitzpatrick received his Ph.D. in 1913 at Cornell under tutelage of Atkinson. Rogerson studied under Fitzpatrick at Cornell from 1946 to 1950. Contemporary to Rogerson was fellow student Richard P. Korf, another prominent mycologist. Students of Rogerson include Robert L. Shaffer (Kansas State; M.A.), Susan Carey Canham (Columbia University; Ph.D.), Anna F. Doyle (Columbia University; Ph.D.), Gary J. Samuels (Columbia University; Ph.D.), and Rosalind Lowen (Lehman College; Ph.D.). Katia F. Rodrigues and Priscila Chaverri (Penn State; Ph.D.) studied under Samuels. The Rogerson sublineage continues to expand under Chaverri at the University of Maryland.

Honors and memberships

Rogerson received several awards and honors during his career:

Rogerson was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Bergen Swamp Preservation Society, and the Utah Academy of Sciences.

Eponymous taxa

Publications

Rogerson wrote 65 research publications and several bibliographic publications.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rogersonanthus Maguire & B.M.Boom Plants of the World Online Kew Science . Plants of the World Online . 20 May 2021 . en.
  2. Herrera. C. S.. Rossman, A. Y. . Samuels, G. J. . Chaverri, P. . Pseudocosmospora, a new genus to accommodate Cosmospora vilior and related species. Mycologia. 6 August 2013. 105. 5. 1287–1305. 10.3852/12-395 . 23921243. 848762.

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