Dr. David E. Fairbrothers Recognized for Achievements as Botanist
New Brunswick, NJ—Dr. David E. Fairbrothers, professor emeritus at Rutgers, received the Gold Medal, the highest honor of The Garden Club of New Jersey (GCNJ), at their 83rd Annual Meeting on May 22. Fairbrothers was awarded this honor in recognition of his many accomplishments in the field of botany. Jeannette Johnson, chairman of Operation Wildflowers/Native Plants, and a member of the Medford Garden Club, nominated Fairbrothers and presented the Medal.
Today the herbarium is the last internationally recognized scientific plant museum in New Jersey. There is a proposed building project at Rutgers which will house the Fairbrothers Plant Resources Center and the Chrysler Herbarium. Fairbrothers and Dr. Lena Struwe, current director of the Chrysler Herbarium, plan to host garden club members at an open-house event in the herbarium in the fall of 2008.
Fairbrothers’ widely renowned accomplishments in botany include publishing, in 1973, Rare or Endangered Vascular Plants of New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state in the United States to have published such a manual, which was reprinted in 1975. Fairbrothers was very involved in the formation of the Pinelands National Reserve, declared in 1978 by an act of Congress. In 1983, the United Nations, through UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program, identified the Pinelands Reserve as one of the world’s outstanding natural areas. Currently Fairbrothers is involved with the Flora of New Jersey Project, an organization that will produce the first botanical flora for the state.
"David has been an invaluable person for native plant protection for the Garden State," said Struwe, current director of the Chrysler Herbarium. "Through his tireless and collaborative work in endangered species research and legislation, plant taxonomic research, and land preservation, he has permanently saved large tracts of land and many native species for future generations. David's botanical legacy in New Jersey cannot be overstated, and he continues to set his mark as an advocate for gardening and preservation of native plants, and protection of rare and endangered species.”
“I was extremely pleased to receive this recognition, including a standing ovation when I was given the Medal,” said Fairbrothers.
Fairbrothers joins an impressive list people given this award by the GCNJ, a group of over five thousand members in 124 chapters in New Jersey. The Medal was most recently awarded to Patrick Cullina, a past associate director of the Rutgers Gardens who was recognized for a national award-winning design of a native plants garden he designed for the Rutgers Gardens. A few other notable recipients of the medal include U. S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall; former Governor Thomas Kean; former Rutgers University President Mason Gross; Rutgers professors Dr. Elwin Orton and Dr. Bruce Hamilton; and former Rutgers professors Dr. Norman F. Childers and Donald B. Lacey.
"Dr. David Fairbrothers has worked tirelessly for many years to study and preserve the natural environments in New Jersey,” said Dr. Jim White, curator of the Rutgers Mycological Herbarium at the Chrysler Herbarium and chair of the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “David has really helped to preserve New Jersey as the Garden State. I cannot think of a better recipient for the 2008 Achievement Award.”
Media Contact: Michele Hujber
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