William Chambers Coker
William Chambers Coker | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | South Carolina College |
| Known for | Establishing the Coker Arboretum |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 26, 1953) was an American botanist and mycologist.
Biography
He was born at Hartsville, South Carolina on October 24, 1872. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1894 and took postgraduate courses at Johns Hopkins University and in Germany. He taught for several years in the summer schools of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, at Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., and in 1902 became associate professor of botany at the University of North Carolina. He established the Coker Arboretum in 1903. He was made professor in 1907 and Kenan professor of botany in 1920. In 1903, he was chief of the botanic staff of the Bahama Expedition of the Geographical Society of Baltimore. Professor Coker was a member of many scientific societies and the author of The Plant Life of Hartsville, S. C. (1912); The Trees of North Carolina (with Henry Roland Totten) (1916); and The Saprolegniaceae of the United States (1921). Besides these he contributed numerous articles on morphology and botany to scientific journals. He died on June 26, 1953, and was buried on June 29, 1953.[1]
He is also honoured in the name of Cokeromyces, which is a pathogenic fungus.[2]
Family
Coker was the third of seven children, of the businessman James Lide Coker,[3] and the brother of agriculturalist David Robert Coker.[4][5]
Species described
- Lactarius subtorminosus Coker (1918)[6]
- Multifurca furcata (Coker) Buyck & V. Hofstetter (2008) – as Lactarius furcatus[6]
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
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References
- ^ "William Chambers Coker". The Landmark. June 29, 1953.
Funeral services were scheduled today for Dr. William Chambers Coker. 80, prominent botanist and member of the University of North Carolina teaching ...
- ^ Alvarez OA, Maples JA, Tio FO, Lee M (1995). "Severe diarrhea due to Cokeromyces recurvatus in a bone marrow transplant recipient". American Journal of Gastroenterology. 90 (8): 1350–1. PMID 7639250. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2020.(subscription required)
- ^ Gilmour, Ron (October 24, 2020). "William Chambers Coker". North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: North Carolina Botanical Garden. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
- ^ COKER, William Chambers, in Who's Who in America (14th edition, 1926); p. 480
- ^ Coclanis, Peter A. (Fall 1999). "David R. Coker, Pedigreed Seeds, and the Limits of Agribusiness in Early-Twentieth-Century South Carolina" (PDF). Business and Economic History. 28 (1). Cambridge University Press: 105–114. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
David's younger brother William C. Coker took a Ph.D. in botany at The Johns Hopkins University, establishing excellent contacts at the Department of Agriculture while in the Washington area, before joining the faculty at the University of North Carolina in 1902.
- ^ a b Coker WC. (1918). "The Lactarias of North Carolina". Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. 34 (1): 1–62 (see p. 18).
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Coker.