George Safford Torrey (1891 – 1977) was an American botanist who taught at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

for forty-one years (1915-1956) and chaired the botany department for twenty-four of those years (1929-1953). Dedicated in 1980, UConn's George Safford Torrey Life Sciences Building was named in his honor. So is the George Safford Torrey Herbarium. Born in 1891 in

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, Torrey attended Philips Andover Academy, graduating in 1909. He earned his

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degree from

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in 1913, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in botany from

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in 1915, and a diplome d'Etudes Superieures from the

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in 1919. After a stint at the Department of Agriculture in Newfoundland, Torrey was hired in 1915 as one of the first instructors of botany at Connecticut Agriculture College, later the University of Connecticut. He served fourteen months in the

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during

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(May 1918 to July 1919) and was deployed to Europe, though he did not see combat. Discharged with the rank of private first class, Torrey returned to Connecticut Agricultural College, where he received tenure in 1928 and was appointed chair of the botany department a year later. He retired in 1956. Torrey built the college herbarium, acquiring tens of thousands of plants through donation and purchase. During his tenure at UConn, he served more than a decade on the Scholastic Standing Committee, a three-year term on the national council of the

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, and as marshal at graduation ceremonies. He also spearheaded a successful campaign to form a UConn chapter of

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in 1953 and served as its first president. Torrey was a member of Phi Beta Kappa,

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, and the

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. Beyond his academic duties, he played the organ and carillon at the Storrs Congregational Church, of which he was a lifelong congregant, until he became too frail to climb the stairs. He also played the bassoon in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and the carillon at

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. Torrey died of heart disease in 1977. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Wolcott Tapley, and their four children. Torrey's papers are held at the University of Connecticut's Archives and Special Collections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torrey, George Safford 1891 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American botanists Carillonneurs Harvard University alumni University of Connecticut faculty