James Franklin Clements (October 31, 1927 – June 9, 2005) was an American

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

, author and businessman. He was born in New York, United States. He married Mary Norton and they had two sons. His second marriage, which lasted 14 years, was to Christina. He married a third time, to Karen. He received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

California Western University Alliant International University is a private for-profit university with its main campus in San Diego, five additional campuses in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Irvine, Sacramento, and Fresno) and one campus in Phoenix, Arizona. Its ...

in 1975. His thesis became the first edition of his ''Birds of the World, A Check List'' (now in its sixth edition). Clements was mostly finished with the sixth edition at the time of his death, and responsibility for the series was taken up by the

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

(Cornell Lab) by arrangement with Clements's widow, Karen. The Cornell Lab finished the sixth edition, maintains corrections and updates for it, and plans to publish future editions. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of a bird, the

Iquitos gnatcatcher The Iquitos gnatcatcher (''Polioptila clementsi'') is a bird in the family Polioptilidae. It was first described in 2005. It is known only from the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, west of Iquitos, Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The Iq ...

, ''Polioptila clementsi'', is named after him. He died at Tri-City Hospital,

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city had a population of 174,068 at the 2020 United States census, making it the most populous city in the Nort ...

of complications associated with acute myeloid

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

Bibliography

* '' Birds of the World, A Check List''

References

External links

Obituary
1927 births 2005 deaths Deaths from acute myeloid leukemia American ornithologists Deaths from leukemia in California Birdwatchers Alliant International University alumni 20th-century American zoologists {{US-ornithologist-stub