In Memoriam: Hustace H. Poor, 1914-1996

Abstract

Hustace H. (Stacy) Poor, a member of the AOU since 1934 and an Elective Member since 1950, was born in Yonkers, New York, 9 November 1914, and died in Princeton, Massachusetts, 8 May 1996. Despite an avid interest in natural history as a youth, his career choice was engineering. After graduating from Harvard College in 1936 he obtained a Master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Engineering in 1938. That same year he joined Babcock and Wilcox Co., where he remained for 41 years, retiring as Vice-President of the company's research and development division in 1979. Stacy maintained a lifelong interest in natural history, especially birds. In his early years, before the demands of work and family left him little time to pursue his avocational interest, he published a number of articles (largely on gulls) in Auk, Wilson Bulletin and Bird-Banding, and coauthored a paper on vernacular nomenclature with Eugene Eisenmann. During this period, he also was a frequent contributor to the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New York and a writer of synoptic reviews for Bird-Banding. Through the years, Stacy's interest in birds never waned, but gradually his analytical mind focused on the importance of the environment and the ecosystems that make bird life possible. With characteristic energy and zeal he wrote regular nature columns for local newspapers, became Vice-Chairman of the Ohio chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and following his retirement became a member of the Board of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and a founder of the Princeton Land Trust. Stacy Poor was a thoughtful, generous person, a dedicated conservationist, and a man who truly believed in service. Would that the world were peopled with more like him.