George Richardson Proctor (1920–2015) was an American

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and expert on Jamaican flora. He wrote widely on the topic, publishing ''Flora of the Cayman Islands'', and collected over 55,000 specimens from 50 different islands in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. He was considered one of the "four horsemen" of

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and Caribbean. Thirty-one species were named in his honor, including ''

Coccothrinax proctorii ''Coccothrinax proctorii'', the Cayman thatch palm or Proctor's silver palm, is a palm which is endemic to the Cayman Islands. Henderson and colleagues (1995) considered ''C. proctorii'' to be a synonym of '' Coccothrinax argentata''. Descri ...

''. Late in his life Proctor was arrested for a conspiracy to murder his wife at the age of 86, and in 2010 at the age of 90, was sentenced to four years in prison. Proctor was released after two, spending the rest of his life in the United States.

Biography

George Richardson Proctor was born in 1920 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a PhD from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. While in college, from 1946 to 1947, Proctor worked at the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

in Philadelphia. He was first published at the age of 19. In 1948, he traveled to the Caribbean on the Catherwood-Chaplin West Indies Expedition. He was influenced by

William Ralph Maxon William Ralph Maxon, (February 27, 1877February 25, 1948) was an American botanist and pteridologist. He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Philosophy, B.Ph. in biology, in 1898, and spent about one year at Columbia University do ...

. Proctor moved to Jamaica in 1949 to work on a book about the island's ferns begun by

. He worked at the

Institute of Jamaica The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), founded in 1879, is the country's most significant cultural, artistic and scientific organisation:herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

and rising to be head of the Natural History Division. From 1982 to 1983 he was herbarium supervisor at the National Botanic Garden in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, and from 1983 to 1998 at the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puert ...

as director of the herbarium. He then worked as a biologist at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

in Jamaica. Proctor traveled to over 50 Caribbean islands, collecting over 55,000 specimens, and authored or co-authored numerous books about Caribbean flora. In 1976 he was awarded the

Musgrave Medal The Musgrave Medal is an annual award by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of achievement in art, science, and literature.Webster, Valerie J. (2000), ''Awards, Honors & Prizes, Volume 2'', Gale Group, , p. 447. Originally conceived in 1889 a ...

and

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

, and honorary degrees from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

(1978) and the University of the West Indies (2004).

Murder conspiracy

Proctor and his driver Glenford Fellington were arrested for a conspiracy to murder his wife on April 20, 2006, at

Norman Manley International Airport Norman Manley International Airport , formerly Palisadoes Airport, is an international airport serving Kingston, Jamaica and is located south of the island away from the centre of New Kingston. It is the second busiest airport in the country ...

as they were about to board a plane to the United States. He was 86 at the time, denied bail, and sentenced in February 2010 to four years in prison. Proctor was allegedly unhappy with the marriage. In October 2012 he was released due to his poor health, and traveled to Boston. Proctor died on October 12, 2015, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, George R. 1920 births 2015 deaths Scientists from Boston Botanists active in the Caribbean University of Pennsylvania alumni American people convicted of attempted murder 20th-century American botanists Recipients of the Musgrave Medal Recipients of the Order of Distinction American expatriates in the Dominican Republic