Marie Leonore Farr (1927–2014), known as Lennie Farr, was an American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

. She was the first woman to be elected president of the

Mycological Society of America Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, ...

Early life and education

Marie Lenore Ehrmann was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria on September 6, 1927. She migrated to the United States with her family and completed her secondary education at Central High School in Detroit, Michigan in 1945. Farr graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

with a BSc and then MSc in botany. At the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

she was awarded a PhD in 1957, for her thesis "Taxonomic studies on ''Myxomycetes''".

Career

Farr worked at a number of universities both in the United States and elsewhere, including

Washington State College Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant universities in the American West. With an un ...

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, the

Institute of Jamaica The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:Federal University of Pernambuco Federal University of Pernambuco (, UFPE) is a public university in Recife, Brazil, established in 1946. UFPE has 70 undergraduate courses and 175 postgraduate courses. , UFPE had 35,000 students and 2,000 professors. The university has three c ...

in Brazil. She then joined the Mycology Laboratory at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

in Beltsville, Maryland. She collaborated locally and internationally in the identification of

slime molds Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to a polyphyly, polyphyletic assemblage of unrelated eukaryotic organisms in the Stramenopiles, Rhizaria, Discoba, Amoebozoa and Holomycota clades. Most are near-microscopic; those in the Myx ...

and

ascomycetes Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The de ...

. Farr was the first woman to be elected president of the

, serving from 1980 to 1981. She had earlier twice been vice president, in 1972–1973 and 1978–1979. Her presidency coincided with the Society's golden anniversary which she celebrated by compiling and presenting a detailed history of the society, "Developmental Studies on the MSA". Her author abbreviation is listed as M. L. Farr in

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Index of Botanists.

Selected works

* * * * *

Published names

Farr published approximately 100 taxa (advanced search at

MycoBank MycoBank is an online database, documenting new mycological names and combinations, eventually combined with descriptions and illustrations. It is run by the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in Utrecht. Each novelty, after being screene ...

). See also taxa named by Marie Leonore Farr.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farr, Marie Leonore 1927 births 2014 deaths American mycologists Michigan State University alumni University of Iowa alumni 20th-century American women scientists Scientists from Vienna