George Ware,

Ph.D. 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 ...

(1924–2010) was an American dendrologist and former research director of the

Morton Arboretum The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, United States, is a public garden and outdoor museum with a library, herbarium, and program in tree research including the Center for Tree Science. Its grounds, covering 1,700 acres (6.9 square kilometre ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

who specialized in the evaluation of Asiatic species of elm as urban trees.''Chicago Suburban Daily Herald'', 7 July 2010. Obituary - Dr. George Ware.

Early life and education

Born 27 April 1924 in

Avery, Oklahoma Avery ()Gordon Whittaker, 2005, "A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language", The Sac & Fox National Public Library Stroud, Oklahoma/ref> is a ghost town in Lincoln County, Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landloc ...

, the son of Charles & Mildred Ware, he was raised in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

, receiving BS and MS degrees from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, and a PhD in Forest Ecology from the

University of Wisconsin - Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

Career

Ware taught

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

dendrology Dendrology (, ''dendron'', "tree"; and , ''-logia'', ''science of'' or ''study of'') or xylology (, ''ksulon'', "wood") is the science and study of woody plants (trees, shrubs, and lianas), specifically, their taxonomic classifications. There ...

and conservation at universities in Oklahoma and Louisiana, before joining the Morton Arboretum in 1968 as Dendrologist, becoming Research Director ten years later, a post he held until his retirement in 1995. During his career at the Morton he raised hybrid elms, maples, planes, poplars and mulberries. He also traveled extensively, making a total of five expeditions to China, and three to the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Ware remained a Research Associate of the Morton Arboretum until 2009.

Elm research

Ware soon realized the potential of disease-resistant Asiatic elms as urban trees, leading a party of Morton botanists and horticulturists to northern China in 1990, followed by participation in the USDA-sponsored expedition to China in 1995. Through contacts established with the Chinese, Ware was to receive regular consignments of elm seed from 1990, which greatly enhanced the Morton Arboretum's elm collection.Ware, G. (1995). Little-known elms from China: landscape tree possibilities. ''Journal of Arboriculture'', (Nov. 1995). International Society of Arboriculture, Champaign, Illinois, US

Personal life

Ware married, in 1955, June (née Gleason) (d. 2010), who bore him four sons.

Death

George Ware died of complications arising from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago on 4 July 2010.''Chicago Tribune'', 07/08/2010, George Ware, former director of research at Morton Arboretum, dies

/ref>

Eponymy

The hybrid (biology), hybrid oak ''Quercus'' × ''warei'' ( ''Quercus robur'' f. ''fastigiata'' × ''Quercus bicolor''), commonly known as the 'Long Oak', was named for him.

Honors and awards

* Gold Seal Award of the National Council of State Gardens (1994) * American Foresters' Urban Forestry Research Awards (1997) * Hutchinson Medal, Chicago Botanic Garden (1997) * Norman J Colman Award, American Nursery and Landscape Association (1996) * Award of Merit, Illinois Arborist Association (1996) * Award of Merit, American Public Gardens Association (2001) * Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, American Horticultural Association (2002) * Conservation leadership Award, Openlands Association (2005) * L C Chadwick Award for Arboricultural Research, International Society for Arboriculture (2008)

Selected publications

* Ware, G. (1992). Elm breeding and improvement at the Morton Arboretum. ''Morton Arboretum Quarterly'', 28(1): 1-5, 1992. * Ware, G. (1995). Little-known elms from China: landscape tree possibilities. ''Journal of Arboriculture'', (Nov. 1995). International Society of Arboriculture, Champaign, Illinois, US

* Shirazi, A. M. & Ware, G. H. (2004). ''Evaluation of New Elms from China for Cold Hardiness in Northern Latitudes''. International Symposium on Asian Plant Diversity & Systematics 2004,

Sakura The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

, Japan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, George 1924 births 2010 deaths American botanists People from Erie County, Ohio People from Norman, Oklahoma University of Oklahoma alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni