United States botanist. Born in Winthrop, Massachussets, Harold E. Moore graduated in 1939 from Massachusetts State University, where he was influenced by the botanist Raymond H. Torrey, and received his MA and PhD degrees from Harvard University in 1940 and 1942 respectively. As a graduate student, he travelled in Mexico and Guatemala for five months to study Geranium for a revision of the Central American species of the genus.

After serving in the Medical Administration Corp of the United States Army during the Second World War, he obtained a fellowship to spend a year in Mexico working on Geranium and in 1947 returned to Harvard as a technical assistant at the Gray Herbarium. It was there that he met Liberty Hyde Bailey, who offered him an assistant professorship at the Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University. After a further three months in Mexico, he arrived in Ithaca in 1948, where he advanced steadily to associate professor (1951-1960), full professor (1960-1978), and finally L.H. Bailey Professor of Botany, and served for nearly a decade as director.

A world-renowned expert on the taxonomy and biology of the Arecaceae, he published a standard reference on the family, The Major groups of Palms and their Distribution in 1973, but was still a few years short of completing his major research project, Genera Palmarum, at the time of his death. In tribute, the monograph was taken up by his close associates, Nathalie Uhl and John Dransfield, who dedicated four years to updating, compiling, and publishing it.

Throughout his career, Moore maintained an active programme of research and field exploration, publishing nearly three hundred papers on palms, Gesneriaceae, tropical biology and other subjects. He served on the board of directors of the Palm Society and the Organization of Tropical Studies and was editor of two journals, Principes and Gentes Herbarium, as well as being a principal contributor to Hortus Third (1976). His last trip was a two-month expedition in the South Pacific Islands. The Madagascan genus Halmoorea J. Dransf. & N.W. Uhl in the Arecaceae was named after him, but later synonymised with Orania Zipp. He is commemorated by several species including Anthurium halmoorei Croat, Bactris halmoorei A.J. Hend. and Ravenea moorei J. Dransf. & N.W. Uhl.

Sources:
M.J. Balick, 1980, "Harold E. Moore, Jr (1917-1980): A Tribute", 32(4): 494
R. Tucker, 1980, "Harold E. Moore, Jr (1917-1980): A Tribute", Mooreana, 1(1): 8-12.