Age: 94 yrs. 6 mos. 23 dys.
S/O Cleveland Abbe, Jr. & Frieda (Conradine Auguste) (Dauer) Abbe (10 Nov 1878-15 Apr 1957)
H/O Lucy Elizabeth (Boothroyd) Abbe, Ph.D. (28 Dec 1906-19 Mar 1992); m 21 May 1930, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, USA
F/O Robert Cleveland Abbe
F/O David Conrad Abbe
Last Residence: Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota 55108, USA [SSDI]
Obituary, Plant Science Bulletin, Volume 46 Number 2, Summer 2000:
Ernst Cleveland Abbe, 1905-2000
Professor Abbe, Professor Emeritus of Botany at the University of Minnesota, died March 15, 2000. He was born August 21, 1905 in Washington, D.C. and earned his B.S. (1928) and Master's (1930) degrees from Cornell University, the latter under the tutelage of A.J. Eames. In the same year he married Lucy Elizabeth Boothroyd. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1934, under the mentorship of R.H. Wetmore. After a National Research Council Fellowship with Sinnott at Columbia, he moved to a faculty position at the University of Minnesota where he was a member of the Botany Department until he retired in 1974. Twice during his tenure, 1944-47 and 1962-67, he served as Department Chairman. During his tenure at the University, he made a lasting impact on science teaching, scientific research and administration in the state. He was active in the Minnesota Chapter of Sigma Xi, serving as president in 1947-48, and encouraged his students to become active members. In 1982 he received the Chapter's "Distinguished Service Award." He was instrumental in revitalizing the Minnesota Academy of Science, in which he served as vice-president (1951-52) and president (1952-53). The Abbe laboratory was always well represented at Academy meetings; all of his students, from Bernie Phinney and Otto Stein in the 1940's through Martin Goffinet and Marsh Sundberg in the 1970's "cut their professional teeth" at the Minnesota Academy of Science.
Abbe's early research was on inflorescence and floral anatomy of the Betulaceae. Through the 1940's and 50's he turned his attention to the maize plant and more than 25 papers and articles on maize morphogenesis flowed from the laboratory. Many of these were investigations of the role of various mutants in altering developmental patterns. Later he returned to comparative studies of amentiferous taxa, particularly the Myricaceae. His last major publication was "Flowers and inflorescences of the 'Amentiferae'" Botanical Review 40(2):159-261, 1974. During his career he was the recipient of a number of awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship at Harvard University (1941-42) and a Fullbright Professorship at the University of Singapore (1961-62). He participated in the Grenfell-Forbes Northern Labrador Expedition, 1931; the University of Minnesota Expedition to Hudson Bay, 1939; an expedition to Mt. Kinabalu on Borneo, 1962; and expeditions to Malaysia in 1959-60 and 1964. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.
Following retirement he remained active in research and mentoring and could be found daily in the now Plant Biology Department into the early 1990's. Dr. Abbe contributed his extensive preserved plant collections to the University of Minnesota Herbarium and was instrumental in expanding it into an important regional and international collection within the Department.
Dr. Abbe is survived by a sister, Elfriede Abbe of Manchester Center, VT; two sons, Robert C. Abbe of Newton, MA and David C. Abbe of San Diego, CA; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Memorial gifts would be made to the Ernst C. and Lucy B. Abbe Scholarship, College of Biological Sciences, at the University of Minnesota.
-Marsh Sundberg, Emporia State University
Age: 94 yrs. 6 mos. 23 dys.
S/O Cleveland Abbe, Jr. & Frieda (Conradine Auguste) (Dauer) Abbe (10 Nov 1878-15 Apr 1957)
H/O Lucy Elizabeth (Boothroyd) Abbe, Ph.D. (28 Dec 1906-19 Mar 1992); m 21 May 1930, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, USA
F/O Robert Cleveland Abbe
F/O David Conrad Abbe
Last Residence: Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota 55108, USA [SSDI]
Obituary, Plant Science Bulletin, Volume 46 Number 2, Summer 2000:
Ernst Cleveland Abbe, 1905-2000
Professor Abbe, Professor Emeritus of Botany at the University of Minnesota, died March 15, 2000. He was born August 21, 1905 in Washington, D.C. and earned his B.S. (1928) and Master's (1930) degrees from Cornell University, the latter under the tutelage of A.J. Eames. In the same year he married Lucy Elizabeth Boothroyd. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1934, under the mentorship of R.H. Wetmore. After a National Research Council Fellowship with Sinnott at Columbia, he moved to a faculty position at the University of Minnesota where he was a member of the Botany Department until he retired in 1974. Twice during his tenure, 1944-47 and 1962-67, he served as Department Chairman. During his tenure at the University, he made a lasting impact on science teaching, scientific research and administration in the state. He was active in the Minnesota Chapter of Sigma Xi, serving as president in 1947-48, and encouraged his students to become active members. In 1982 he received the Chapter's "Distinguished Service Award." He was instrumental in revitalizing the Minnesota Academy of Science, in which he served as vice-president (1951-52) and president (1952-53). The Abbe laboratory was always well represented at Academy meetings; all of his students, from Bernie Phinney and Otto Stein in the 1940's through Martin Goffinet and Marsh Sundberg in the 1970's "cut their professional teeth" at the Minnesota Academy of Science.
Abbe's early research was on inflorescence and floral anatomy of the Betulaceae. Through the 1940's and 50's he turned his attention to the maize plant and more than 25 papers and articles on maize morphogenesis flowed from the laboratory. Many of these were investigations of the role of various mutants in altering developmental patterns. Later he returned to comparative studies of amentiferous taxa, particularly the Myricaceae. His last major publication was "Flowers and inflorescences of the 'Amentiferae'" Botanical Review 40(2):159-261, 1974. During his career he was the recipient of a number of awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship at Harvard University (1941-42) and a Fullbright Professorship at the University of Singapore (1961-62). He participated in the Grenfell-Forbes Northern Labrador Expedition, 1931; the University of Minnesota Expedition to Hudson Bay, 1939; an expedition to Mt. Kinabalu on Borneo, 1962; and expeditions to Malaysia in 1959-60 and 1964. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.
Following retirement he remained active in research and mentoring and could be found daily in the now Plant Biology Department into the early 1990's. Dr. Abbe contributed his extensive preserved plant collections to the University of Minnesota Herbarium and was instrumental in expanding it into an important regional and international collection within the Department.
Dr. Abbe is survived by a sister, Elfriede Abbe of Manchester Center, VT; two sons, Robert C. Abbe of Newton, MA and David C. Abbe of San Diego, CA; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Memorial gifts would be made to the Ernst C. and Lucy B. Abbe Scholarship, College of Biological Sciences, at the University of Minnesota.
-Marsh Sundberg, Emporia State University
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(Plot Stone) ABBE