Rimo Bacigalupi (1901–1996), known as "Bach",The nickname "Bach" was pronounced as English "Batch", the first syllable of "Bacigalupi". was an American botanist and taxonomist, an expert in the flora of California. He was the first curator of the

Jepson Herbarium The University and Jepson Herbaria are two herbarium, herbaria that share a joint facility at the University of California, Berkeley holding over 2,200,000 botanical specimens, the largest such collection on the US West Coast. These botany, botan ...

at the University of California, Berkeley.

Biography

Rimo was a son of Prospero and Gisella Bacigalupi, who were of

Genovese Genovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa. Its Italian plural form '' Genovesi'' has also developed into a surname. People * Alfred Genovese (1931–2011), American oboist * Alfredo Genovese (born 1964), Argentine arti ...

origin. He was educated at Lowell High School and entered

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 ...

intending to become a lawyer, but changed his

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

from English to botany, receiving the A.B. degree in 1923 and A.M. in 1925. He then taught botany and Italian at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

before studying at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

for his Ph.D. degree which was awarded in 1931. He worked for the California Forest Experimental Station of the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

1933–1938. He served with the U.S. Army during World War II, then returned to Stanford as an instructor in biology. He was president of the

California Botanical Society The California Botanical Society was founded by Willis Linn Jepson in 1913, since when it has advanced the knowledge of botanical sciences in the Western United States Services The society services are: the journal ''Madroño'', published since 1 ...

1957–1958. When

Willis Linn Jepson Willis Linn Jepson (August 19, 1867 – November 7, 1946) was a late-19th and 20th century California botanist, professor, conservationist, and writer. A co-founder of the Sierra Club in 1892, he was much honored in later life for his rese ...

, professor of botany at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, died in 1946, he left his estate to the University of California for the purpose of continuing his studies of Californian flora. With the bequest the university established the Jepson Herbarium and Library, and Bacigalupi was appointed its first curator in 1950. He retired in 1968 but continued his botanical studies until suffering a stroke in 1983. Besides his mastery of botany, Bacigalupi was an expert in operatic scores,

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

, postage stamps and railroads. He was a member of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

for 71 years.

Eponyms

*'' Perideridia bacigalupii'' *'' Deinandra bacigalupii'' *'' Downingia bacigalupii''

Notes

References

1901 births 1996 deaths American botanists Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni Stanford University alumni Harvard University alumni United States Forest Service officials United States Army personnel of World War II University of California, Berkeley staff Mills College faculty {{US-botanist-stub