Canadian botanist. James Eckenwalder was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He received a BA in Botany (1971) from Reed College, Portland, Oregon and a PhD (1976) from the University of California, Berkeley for a dissertation on "Systematics of Populus L. (Salicaceae) in southwestern North America with special reference to sect. Aigeros Duby". During his graduate studies at Berkeley, he also served as a research assistant in the Jepson Herbarium. He began his professional career in 1977 as assistant taxonomist at the Fairchild Tropical Garden Research Center in Miami, Florida, but left after a year to become assistant professor of botany and curator of the vascular plant herbarium at the University of Toronto. In 1985 he advanced to associate professor, a position he continues to hold. Since 1979, he has also been a research associate of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. Eckenwalder is widely known as an expert in the systematics of Populus. His other research interests are cycads, other gymnosperms, Convolvulaceae, and Pontederiaceae. His field work has taken him to most of the United States and provinces of Canada, the West Indies, Central America, South America and Europe.