Robert Kingston Vickery, Jr. - In memoriam

Abstract

Dr. Robert Kingston Vickery, Jr., emeritus professor in the School of Biological Sciences of the University of Utah, passed away at age 99 on 20 July 2022 in Salt Lake City with his wife of 71 years, Marcia Hoak Vickery, in attendance. His life was filled with adventure, accomplishment, and love. He was born in Saratoga, California, to Robert Kingston Vickery, Sr., and Ruth Bacon Vickery on 18 September 1922 - the oldest child and only son; he had 2 younger sisters, Mary and Ruth. Bob started school in Europe, with stops in England, France, and Italy, where his father was assigned to grow Cal Spray, the company he worked for. When Bob was in first grade at a Montessori-type school in Rome, he showed an early love for plants by growing flowers, vegetables, and other plants in a planter box, rather than tending to more traditional subjects. Returning to the Bay Area of California when he was 7, Bob completed primary and secondary schools and entered college at Stanford, with a class or two at University of California, Berkeley. He emphasized architecture, science, and engineering.

Keywords

in memoriam, Robert Kingston Vickery, species variation, population variation, taxonomic placement, ecology, physiology, plant chemistry, adaptation

Citation

McArthur, E. Durant. 2022. Robert Kingston Vickery, Jr. - In memoriam. Western North American Naturalist. 82(3): 616-624.