A Brief History of Frederick D. Bennett's Entomological Career

Abstract

Fred Bennett was a legend in biological control before he was hired by the University of Florida, which surely was the reason he was snapped up. The position he was offered was that of Graduate Research Professor made available by the retirement of Reece Sailer in 1985. Fred had been the Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, based in Trinidad, West Indies, but also with station units at that time in England, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Switzerland. Established to mitigate pest problems in Commonwealth countries, the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control now worked also under contract in non-Commonwealth countries. That caused Fred to travel widely for research projects and to attend scientific meetings. Although biological control calls for expertise in applied ecology and ethology, knowledge of various taxonomic groups helps very much. Fred's taxonomic interests are in bees, Sphingidae, and in scale insects and their chalcidoid parasitoids (Aphelinidae, Encyrtidae, and Eulophidae). Fred was born and educated in Canada, performed his Ph.D. research in California, was employed briefly in Bermuda, then Trinidad, and finally Florida. As Graduate Research Professor at the University of Florida he was popular, mentored graduate students, and worked with faculty members of the Entomology & Nematology Department in Gainesville, and at various Research Stations in Florida. When he retired with his wife Betty in 1993, he moved to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, where he continued entomologizing and publishing. Why there? Because it was close to England where his daughter and 2 sons live.