Zane B. Carothers (1924–2005)

Abstract

Zane Bland Carothers died February 3, 2005. He was an outstanding plant anatomist and a pioneer in the comparative studies of bryophyte spermato genesis. Zane was born in Philadelphia in 1924 and, following a stint in the U. S. Army Air Force from March 1943 to February 1946, attended Temple University where he earned both a B.S. in Ed. (1950) and an M.S. in Ed. (1952), specializing in Biology. Dr. Carothers took his Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Michigan in 1958, defending a dissertation entitled Comparative Stem Anatomy of Some Shrubby Members of the Geraniaceae. His academic career began with an instructorship in Botany at the University of Kentucky for the years 1957-1959. His appointment as an assistant professor in Botany in 1959 at the University of Illinois marked the beginning of his 32-year aca demic life there. As a member of that faculty, he taught general plant morphology and plant anatomy in addition to introductory courses in Botany/Plant Biology. He co-authored with Harry Fuller and oth ers the 4th and 5th editions of The Plant World, a widely used general botany textbook of the 1960s and 1970s. He was named Professor Emeritus of Plant Biology following his retirement in August 1991. Zane was a remarkable anatomist/electron mi croscopist who developed a penchant for bryo phytes and, in particular, the ultrastructural details of these fascinating plants. His many publications with students and colleagues attest to his meticu lous abilities in the medium of transmission elec tron microscopy (TEM). Like any great anatomist, he could examine TEM sections of a structure and