In Memoriam - Prof. Taylor Steeves

Submitted by Vipen Sawhney, Professor
Department of Biology

Professor Emeritus Taylor A. Steeves of the Biology Department, University of Saskatchewan (U of S) passed away on September 6, 2011. Taylor was born on November 29, 1926 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He did his B.Sc. at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and in 1951 received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

During his graduate years at Harvard, Taylor spent a year as Sheldon Travelling Fellow at the University of Manchester and worked with the famous botanist Prof. C.W. Wardlaw. After obtaining his Ph.D. he was appointed a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard. In 1953, while a Fellow at Harvard, he was a Visiting Scientist at the Institut National de Recherches Agronomiques in Versailles, France. It was there that he acquired his lifelong interest in the language and culture of France that was to take on additional dimensions in later years of his life. In 1954 Taylor returned to Cambridge to join the faculty of Harvard University as an Assistant Professor.

In 1959, after he had just finished a 5-year appointment as Assistant Professor at Harvard, Taylor was offered a position at the U of S as Associate Professor with tenure, and without an interview, by then Head of the Biology Department, Prof. Rawson, an eminent biologist in his own right. Taylor had also received offers from Brown University and from Universities of California at Los Angeles, Texas, and Virginia. After receiving the offer from the U of S, Taylor came to see the University and the city of Saskatoon. The Biology Department did not have a building at that time but it was under construction and he was initially going to be housed in the basement of the Physics building. Prof. Rawson offered Taylor to have his lab built in the new building the way he wanted it.

Taylor was happy about that and saw a lot of potential at this place and liked the campus. He specially loved the city and its surroundings, the South Saskatchewan River, the vastness of the prairie land, and the accessibility to the off campus site, the Emma Lake campus. He accepted the job and then approached Prof. Rawson for travel expenses about his visit to the university. However, he was told that because he was not invited for an interview and came here on his own, there would be no reimbursement. Many years later when I was Department Head and we were inviting candidates for interviews, and in some cases for a subsequent visit and we looked after their expenses, I was reminded repeatedly by Taylor that he never got paid to come here for a visit. My response to that was, I guess that is the price for being an exceptional candidate. Then, one year after joining the U of S, Taylor was offered the position of Associate Professor at Yale University with tenure, but he turned it down as he felt he had made a commitment to the U of S. This one act alone speaks volumes about the character of the man.

It is our good fortune that Taylor chose to stay here, and what an incredible career he had and the extraordinary contributions he made to the Biology Department, this university, and to the botanical community in Canada and at the international level. He received every award that he was nominated for, and the list is long but a few are worthy of note; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada at the age of 45, Lawson Medal by the Canadian Botanical Association (the highest award by the society), an Earned D.Sc. from the U of S and an Honorary doctorate from the University of Guelph.

He contributed much to his discipline of plant morphology and development through research, supervision of students and collaborations with colleagues, publishing papers and serving as the Editor of two journals in his field. Taylor also co-authored two books; an introductory text, Botany, which has been used by many institutions, and with his longtime friend, Ian Sussex, the book, Patterns in plant development, which became a standard text in his field. He was known the world over for his excellent and definitive research in plant morphology and development that has been cited and included in many publications including text books.

Taylor also served the botanical community and his discipline, at the national and international levels, in various capacities. He was the founding member of the Canadian Botanical Association and served as its President in 1973. He served the society in numerous other ways including hosting its annual meeting in Saskatoon in 1975. In 1990, the Canadian Botanical Association awarded him the Mary E. Elliott Service Award, and in 1993 established the “Taylor A. Steeves Award” in Plant Development in his honour. In 1994, he was made him an Honorary Life Member of the society. In 1996, the Botanical Society of America elected him a corresponding Member.

Perhaps Taylor’s major contribution was in the area of teaching. He had an amazing wealth of knowledge which he transmitted to students with his wit, humor, enthusiasm, and storytelling. Students loved taking his courses and would come back for more. His style of teaching, his mannerism and persona were so powerful that many students actually changed the direction of their program and switched to studying plants. He was most proud of his students and their successes and was very caring of their welfare. When the U of S awarded him the Master Teacher Award, he treasured that more than any other award as teaching for him was of prime importance. Taylor was not only a great speaker but he also spoke very fast, and it was said that “Taylor could teach two classes at the same time by standing in between the doorway of two class rooms”.

Taylor also made enormous contributions to the Biology Department and the university in the area of administration; from serving as Department Head, Chair of Undergraduate Studies committee, Budgetary Advisory committee of the council, Chair of Promotions Appeal committee, Chair of Council nomination committee and Chair of NSERC committee for scientific publications, to name a few. He was named Rawson Professor of Biology for his distinguished service.

As a person Taylor was the kindest human being and a very compassionate and gentle soul. He was also very concerned about environmental issues and was a strong proponent of conservation. Throughout his stay at the U of S, he rode a bike during spring and summer, and walked in winter. I recall some Saskatoon winter days with temperatures hovering around – 30 C, Taylor would arrive in the Department with his buffalo coat and a beard with icicles hanging down his face. He was very much into recycling materials, whether it was clothes or the use of office supplies; this was during the times when it was not fashionable to talk about conservation and going green, but Taylor practiced it all his life. He also had a great sense of humor and loved telling jokes and would start laughing before he would finish.

Taylor Steeves was an icon in the field of Botany. He will be sorely missed as a dear friend, wonderful colleague and mentor, outstanding scientist, an inspiring teacher, and an exceptional human being. His passing is an end of an era…..