Theodore M
Theodore M. “Ted” Barkley
1934–2004
The Flora of North America
Board and the Compositae Editorial Team are honored to
dedicate the three volumes of the Asteraceae to the late Dr. Theodore “Ted” M.
Barkley. An influential member of the FNA editorial board since its founding,
Dr. Barkley passed away in the summer of 2004 while still actively involved in
preparing the current volumes for publication. A dedicated and renowned
seneciologist, he worked on his groundsel treatments to the last minute. After
nearly four decades at Kansas State University,
where he trained many taxonomists and co-edited, among others, the Flora of
the Great Plains, Ted retired in 1998 to the Botanical Research Institute
of Texas to serve as lead editor of the three Asteraceae volumes. In the years
that followed, thanks to his leadership and managerial abilities as well as to
his sense of humor, he obtained the financial resources and developed a robust
program to ensure publication of the largest family in the North American
flora. Ted will be remembered by all of us for his delight at playing with
language, bad puns intended, and for his culture, wisdom, pragmatism, loyalty
to friends, and dedication to the FNA project and to the Compositae volumes in
particular. But mostly, he will be remembered as a scholar and a gentleman.