Biography

American bryologist at Duke University, North Carolina. Lewis E. Anderson (known by many as Andy) conducted fieldwork across the United States and Canada and produced a checklist to the mosses of North America with Howard Crum and W.C. Steere. Batesville born, he grew up there in Mississippi and attended the state college at the age of 16. After graduating with a BA from Mississippi State University he became an assistant in botany at Duke University and, undertaking postgraduate studies, received a master's degree in 1933. His PhD was awarded by the University of Pennsylvania (where he had been an assistant instructor and held the Morris Fellowship) for a thesis on the mitochondria of higher plants. From this time until his retirement in 1982, Anderson worked at Duke, first as an instructor, then as assistant professor and later full professor (from 1954).

Anderson's jovial character seems to have endeared him to students and according to his close colleague and friend, H. Crum, once claimed he had taught so much that he would be able to go back into a class, without preparation and in the nude, and still be able to lecture on any subject. This pair spent a lot of time together in the field and in his tribute to Anderson in Contributions to Systematic Botany Crum has many a hilarious story to tell of their adventures. Anderson did take a leave of absence from Duke during the Second World War and, undertaking military service on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Area, he left as a Lieutenant Commander. His A list of the mosses of North America was published in 1966 and between 1980 and 1981 he and Crum published an exsiccatae series entitled Mosses of North America. In 1941 Anderson married Ruth (Pat) Geckler and the pair had five children together. The genus Bryoandersonia was named after him by Harold Robinson and several species epithets also bear his name.

Sources:
H. Crum, "Lewis Anderson, a tribute from a friend and colleague", Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, 11:1-23.

Biography

American bryologist at Duke University, North Carolina. Lewis E. Anderson (known by many as Andy) conducted fieldwork across the United States and Canada and produced a checklist to the mosses of North America with Howard Crum and W.C. Steere. Batesville born, he grew up there in Mississippi and attended the state college at the age of 16. After graduating with a BA from Mississippi State University he became an assistant in botany at Duke University and, undertaking postgraduate studies, received a master's degree in 1933. His PhD was awarded by the University of Pennsylvania (where he had been an assistant instructor and held the Morris Fellowship) for a thesis on the mitochondria of higher plants. From this time until his retirement in 1982, Anderson worked at Duke, first as an instructor, then as assistant professor and later full professor (from 1954).

Anderson's jovial character seems to have endeared him to students and according to his close colleague and friend, H. Crum, once claimed he had taught so much that he would be able to go back into a class, without preparation and in the nude, and still be able to lecture on any subject. This pair spent a lot of time together in the field and in his tribute to Anderson in Contributions to Systematic Botany Crum has many a hilarious story to tell of their adventures. Anderson did take a leave of absence from Duke during the Second World War and, undertaking military service on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Area, he left as a Lieutenant Commander. His A list of the mosses of North America was published in 1966 and between 1980 and 1981 he and Crum published an exsiccatae series entitled Mosses of North America. In 1941 Anderson married Ruth (Pat) Geckler and the pair had five children together. The genus Bryoandersonia was named after him by Harold Robinson and several species epithets also bear his name.

Sources:
H. Crum, "Lewis Anderson, a tribute from a friend and colleague", Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, 11:1-23.