David Daniels Keck (October 24, 1903 – March 10, 1995) was an American botanist who was notable for his work on

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

taxonomy and genetics. Keck was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. He completed undergraduate studies at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

in 1925 and was awarded a Ph.D. in botany from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1930. From 1925 to 1950 he was based at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he worked on plant species concepts with

Jens Clausen Jens Christen (Christian) Clausen (March 11, 1891 – November 22, 1969) was a Danish- American botanist, geneticist, and ecologist. He is considered a pioneer in the field of ecological and evolutionary genetics of plants. Biography Clausen w ...

and William Hiesey. In 1949, the three of them were co-recipients of the

Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award The Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award, informally known as the Mary Soper Pope Medal, was awarded by the Cranbrook Institute of Science of Detroit, Michigan, for notable achievement in plant sciences. It was inaugurated in 1946, and the last award wa ...

in botany."Cranbrook Institute of Science Director's Papers"
Cranbrook website. Retrieved Dec. 27, 2016. In 1950 he was appointed head curator of the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

and remained there until 1958. In 1959, he co-published ''A California Flora'' with Philip A. Munz. He was Program Director for Systematic Biology at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

until 1970, after which he moved to New Zealand. He returned to the United States in 1978 and lived in

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824, making it the List of cities in Oregon, eighth-most populo ...

References

David D. Keck records
, New York Botanical Garden {{DEFAULTSORT:Keck, David D. American botanical writers American taxonomists 1903 births 1995 deaths Botanists active in California Stanford University staff New York Botanical Garden Pomona College alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Scientists from Omaha, Nebraska People from Medford, Oregon