Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria
Australian National Herbarium
Biographical Notes
|
|
Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria | |
Parbery, Ian Henry (1939 - 1990)He was born on 22 April 1939 in Moruya, NSW; and died on 11 December 1990 at Armidale, NSW at the age of 51.
He was born in Moruya where
he grew up with a love of botany, fostered by his
grandfather, who was deeply interested in science
and the natural world about him.
After Primary
School Ian went to Hurlstone Agricultural High
School, then on to Armidale Teachers' College.
On
graduating he was appointed to Peak Hill Primary
School where he met his future wife, Fran Powter,
whom he married in 1962.
During the next eight
years he completed study for external BA and
Litt.B. degrees.
In 1971 he was appointed to the staff
of Armidale Teachers' College where he undertook
study for a M.Sc. based on the distribution of
nitrogen-fixing bluegreen algae in dryland environments.
He found many new genera and species but
was hard put to find adequate information and support for continuation of the work.
On gaining his master's degree, he turned his
interest to phylloplane fungi, encouraged by his
colleague, Associate Professor John Brown in the
Botany Department of the University of New England.
In 1989,
when it became known that Ian's health was uncertain, colleagues who made enquiries through Doug Pabery,
in addition to expressing their hopes for his full
recovery, expressed their appreciation for his capacity as a taxonomist, skill as an illustrator and his
straight-faced, dry, sense of humour.
Everything
he undertook had to be completed, and to the
highest possible standard. His work with the black
mildews built on and extended considerably the
work begun by Hansford several years earlier. He
strove to finish his task but was frustrated by declining health.
Some manuscripts were finished and
submitted for publication shortly before his death.
His death is a great loss to Australian mycology,
where the ranks of much needed, first class taxonomists, are already thin.
It is presumed that fellow mycologist Douglas George Parbery is his brother or cousin.
Source: Extracted from:
D.G. Parbery (1991) 'Ian Henry Parbery, 1939-1990', Australasian Plant Pathology Vol. 20 (3) 1991
Australasian Plant Pathology Vol. 20 (3) 1991
Portrait Photo: none found.
Data from 255 specimens
