Frank Cramer (b.

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, and ...

November 4, 1861, d.

Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

January, 30 1948) was an American writer, biologist and educator. Cramer was born on November 4, 1861 in Wausau, Wisconsin. He attended

Lawrence College Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

, from where he graduated in 1886. He was then employed as a teacher in Wisconsin before going on to attend

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

. At Stanford he studied

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, graduating with a master’s degree in 1893. He was influenced by

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

to found a

College-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

for Stanford University, opening in 1891. The school was called the Palo Alto Preparatory School for Boys for a short period, until in 1893 it was renamed

Manzanita Hall The Harker School is a private, non-profit school located in San Jose, California. Founded in 1893 as Manzanita Hall, Harker now has three campuses: Bucknall, Union, and Saratoga, named after the streets on which they lie. About The Bucknall ca ...

. 24 students were enrolled into the school by September 1894. Cramer remained there as head of school between 1893 and 1902 when he sold it to Dixon Lee. He was one of Palo Alto’s first residents and was one of Palo Alto's early leaders in local government and education. He was on Palo Alto's first board of trustees, and in 1904 he won an election to the local school board for a three-year term. He was interested in natural history throughout his life, and had cooperateded with Jordan as a biologist on different projects. Cramer worked for the Palo Alto City Assessor’s Office from 1926 up to his retirement in 1937. Cramer died on January 30, 1948 at the age of 86. Cramer was interred at the

Alta Mesa Memorial Park Alta Mesa Memorial Park is a non-denominational burial ground located in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California. It was established in 1904 as a 72-acre cemetery. It includes traditional burial plots, a mausoleum and a columbarium. Notable b ...

in Palo Alto.

Works

Cramer was the author of a number of publications and these include: * ''On the cranial characters of the genus ''Sebastodes'' (rock-fish)'', 1895 * ''The method of Darwin: a study in scientific method'' A. C. McClurg and company, Chicago 1896 * ''Talks to students on the art of study'' Hoffman-Edwards, San Francisco 1902 * ''Moral training in the public schools; the California Prize essays'' Ginn & Co., 1907 * ''The case of the people against the lawyers and the courts; interviews with an outdoor philosopher'', 1915

Eponymy

Cramer is honored in the specific names of the following taxa:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Frank American biologists 1861 births 1948 deaths Lawrence University alumni Stanford University alumni People from Wausau, Wisconsin