American banker in New York state whose two successful businesses allowed him to support many botanical projects. Interested in the flora of the south-eastern United States, George Cooley funded collection in this area, both by himself and by others, as well as floristic projects and the development of herbaria. Although he had gathered plant specimens from a young age, it was only after his four daughters had grown up that he and his wife, Myra, began to travel regularly to Florida and Mississippi and developed a passion for the plants of those states. Cooley was particularly interested in Sanibel Island, Florida, publishing "The vegetation of Sanibel Island, Lee County, Florida" in 1955 and even contributed personally to its development as a nature preserve.
Noticing that, botanically, Mississippi was the least explored of the southern states, he and Myra gathered a team of botanists from New York to help them organise the University of Mississippi's herbarium and to plan a collecting program for the state. Naturally Cooley's work in this region necessitated the use of Small's Manual of the Southeastern Flora which he soon found to be outdated, particularly with regards to the delineation of genera. Once more he set about organising a team to work towards this aim and supported the Arnold Arboretum and Gray Herbarium's project Generic Flora of the Southeastern USA. At the same time he contributed towards the initiation of the University of South Carolina's Flora of the Carolinas.
Increasingly travelling abroad, Cooley was interested in the Caribbean flora in Florida and joined two University of Florida expeditions to Jamaica, as well as collecting there with George Proctor. He and his wife also visited St. Vincent on several occasions to gathering native plants and botanical data, and he even collected in Africa and Australasia on a trip with Richard Howard. Cooley also contributed a great deal to the conservation movement, serving as the financial advisor to the Nature Conservancy and receiving the Oak Leaf Award in 1985.
Born in Troy, New York, Cooley graduated from high school in 1914 and joined the armed forces to fight in the First World War. In 1917 he began to study at Colgate University with a view to entering the ministry, but six months later he dropped out due to financial problems and began work as a clerk in the banking house of Dillon, Read and Company. Clearly he learnt a great deal in this position and was able to set up his own investment firms (George R. Cooley and Co. and Continental Share Corp.) in Albany, New York. Later he and his wife moved to a place in the country named Hickory Hill near Rensselaerville.
After his retirement Cooley received botanical training at Harvard University, attending every lecture he could while visiting the Arnold Arboretum and Gray Herbarium during the winter months. He was awarded two honorary degrees, one from Colgate University (which also dedicated a science library herbarium, and chair of Peace Studies to him for his financial support) and the other from the University of South Florida for his huge contributions to the founding of their library, herbarium and biological station in Chinsegut. His funding also allowed the American Society of Plant Taxonomists to award two yearly cash prizes for the best published paper based on original research. The species Justicia cooleyi J.Monachino and E.C.Leonard, Thelypteris cooleyi Proctor. and Thalictrum cooleyi H.E.Ahles were also named in his honour.
Sources:
R.C. Rollins and R.A. Howard, 1987, "A Tribute to George R. Cooley", Systematic Botany, 12(3): 444-448
R.A. Howard, 1987, "Deaths: George Ralph Cooley (1896-1986)", Taxon, 36:696-698
George R. Cooley Papers, 1941-1986, New York State Library:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc18858.htm, accessed 19 April 2011.
