Grace Lotowycz

Grace E. “Betty” Lotowycz
Born (1916-05-11)May 11, 1916
Manhattan, New York City, United States
Died April 8, 2016(2016-04-08) (aged 99)
Louisville, Colorado, United States
Residence Mill Neck, NY until 2003
Citizenship American
Fields Botany
Alma mater Vassar College
Spouse Wladimir "Bill" Lotowycz

Grace E. "Betty" Lotowycz (May 11, 1916 – April 8, 2016) was an American botanist and United States Air Force pilot in World War II.[1]

Career as a botanist

Lotowycz studied botany at Vassar College and graduated in 1938[1] and then joined the Experiment in International Living, a student-exchange climbing program in the Swiss Alps. She worked briefly as a curatorial assistant at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.[1][2]

Much later, in 1962, she worked at the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park where she established and curated the herbarium of preserved plants that currently numbers about 10,000 specimens.[3] She retired in 1984 after 22 years.[2]

Lotowycz was a founding member of the Long Island Botanical Society and lifetime member of the Torrey Botanical Society.

Publications

At the age of 88, Lotowycz co-authored a book, ‘‘Illustrated Field Guide to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Long Island’’ with Barbara Conolly.[4]

World War II

Lotowycz was a pilot in World War II, a fairly rare occurrence for women. Lotowycz and the other Women Airforce Service Pilots received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Grace Lotowycz 1916 – 2016". The Daily Camera via Legacy.com. April 24, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Long Island Botanical Society Newsletter" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "Aviation pioneer Grace 'Betty' Lotowycz dies". Newsday. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  4. ↑ Lotowycz, Grace E.; Conolly, Barbara (2004). Illustrated Field Guide to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Long Island. Waterline Books. ISBN 978-0976427506.

Notes

An unpublished analysis of the PFA Herbarium database by its current curator yields the following result.

Of the approximately 11,285 specimens in the PFA Herbarium collection, GEL contributed 4,728 specimens to the Herbarium, (a few in collaboration with colleagues). The specimens are dated between 1947 and 2000.

There are 164 plant families represented in her collection.

4,617 alone are from all of Long Island except, curiously, Queens County. These include 33 from Brooklyn (Kings County) 1018 from Suffolk and 3566 from Nassau County. The Nassau specimens include 2644 collected in Planting Fields Arboretum.

The rest of her collection is from the NY metropolitan area, New England and a smattering of other states and foreign countries.

David Papayanopulos

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