George Carver Clerk, (29 July 1931 – 2 May 2019) was a
Ghanaian botanist and
plant pathologist.
A professor and later, an emeritus professor at the
University of Ghana,
Legon, he also focused his research on
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
n
mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogen ...
and
ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
.
Clerk, along with his academic contemporary
Ebenezer Laing (1931–2015), was one of Ghana's earliest practitioners of botany as a scientific discipline, in addition to his pioneering role as a plant pathologist in West Africa.
In 1973, G. C. Clerk became a Fellow of the
Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Early life and family
George Clerk was born on 29 July 1931 in
Accra,
Gold Coast.
His father,
Carl Henry Clerk (1895–1982), an agricultural educator, journalist and Presbyterian minister was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the
Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1950 to 1954 and the Editor of the
Christian Messenger, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963.
His mother, Martha Ayorkor Quao (1911–1989) was from La and
Ga-Mashie.
Quao's maternal grandfather was Nii Ngleshie Addy I, the first son of Nii Tetteh Tsuru I, the founder and ruler of the Otuopai Clan, a royal house in Ga Mashie. G. C. Clerk's father who had earlier studied agricultural science at
Tuskegee University, incidentally named him after the American botanist,
George Washington Carver, whose works the older Clerk had studied at the institute, perhaps a foreshadowing of the infant George's future career path.
George C. Clerk belonged to the historically notable
Clerk family.
[
] His paternal great-grandfather,
Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820–1906), a
Jamaican Moravian educator arrived in the
Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg, now
Osu, in Accra in 1843, as part of the original group of 24 West Indians employed by the Swiss-based
Basel Evangelical Missionary Society.
A. W. Clerk co-established a boys' middle boarding school, the
Salem School in 1843. His paternal great-grandmother, Pauline Hesse (1831–1909) was from the Gold Coast, and was of
Euro-Ga heritage.
His great-grandaunt was
Regina Hesse
Regina Hesse (1832–1898), also Rottmann, was a Euro-African schoolteacher in colonial Ghana. As an educationist, she was one of first women exemplars on the Gold Coast to become a school administrator. Hesse was trained by the Angolan-bor ...
(1832–1898), a pioneer educator.
His grandfather,
Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862–1961), a theologian, was the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932, and a co-founder of the
Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, established in 1938.
His grandmother, Anna Alice Meyer (1873–1934) was also a Euro-African.
His uncle,
Theodore S. Clerk
Theodore Shealtiel Clerk, (4 September 1909 – 1965) was an urban planner on the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast and the first formally trained, Professional certification, professionally certified Ghanaian people, Ghanaian architect. ...
(1909–1965) was the first Ghanaian architect and planned the port city,
Tema. G. C. Clerk's aunts were
Jane E. Clerk (1904–1999), a pioneer education administrator and
Matilda J. Clerk (1916–1984), the second Ghanaian woman in orthodox-medicine.
Pauline M. Clerk (1935 - 2013), a diplomat and presidential advisor, was his cousin, as was
Alexander Adu Clerk (born 1947), a
sleep medicine specialist and psychiatrist.
George Clerk's granduncle was
Emmanuel Charles Quist (1880–1959), a barrister and judge who became the first African President of the
Legislative Council from 1949 to 1951, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957, and
Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 to November 1957.
Clerk's maternal uncle was the jurist and judge,
Nii Amaa Ollennu (1906–1986), elected the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the
Second Republic as well as serving as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission and acting
President of Ghana
The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is Nana Akufo-Addo, who won the 2020 presidential ...
from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970. His uncle was
Nathan Quao (1915–2005), a diplomat, educationist and public servant who doubled as a presidential advisor to several
Heads of State of Ghana. Moreover, his first cousin was the economist and diplomat,
Amon Nikoi (1930–2002), appointed the Governor of the
Bank of Ghana from 1973 to 1977 and Finance minister from 1979 to 1981.
Education and training
George Clerk was a pupil at Presbyterian primary schools at
Somanya and Osu.
He attended the boys' middle boarding school, the
Salem School.
Clerk had his secondary education at the
Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, then located in
Odumase-Krobo
Krobo Odumase is a town and capital of Lower Manya Krobo Municipal District in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School was formerly located here.
Prominent sites
The town is a proposed site for the construction of ...
.
He enrolled at the
University College of the Gold Coast and the
University of London, then the parent institution of the university college. He received his bachelor's degree in botany with first-class honours and winning the first prize as the best graduating student in botany.
G. C. Clerk was then awarded a postgraduate research fellowship at the
University of London and the
University of Bristol, and in 1963, earned a joint
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
-
DIC in botany, with a sub-concentration in physiological mycology, from
Imperial College London where he wrote his dissertation on
asexual spores of
parasitic fungi growing on the bodies of insects.
His doctoral advisor was the British mycologist,
Michael Francis Madelin (1931–2007), one of the world's earliest investigators of conidial fungi and slime moulds.
The pioneer British plant pathologist,
Ronald Karslake Starr Wood (1919 – 2017) also supervised his research in London.
Career
Prior to his postgraduate studies, Clerk taught biology at
Prempeh College for about three years in the late 1950s and also served as an assistant housemaster there.
During this period, he was also an instructor in mathematical sciences to
adult education students.
He then became a researcher at the Plant Services Division of the
Ministry of Agriculture.
George Clerk rose through the ranks to attain the rank of Full Professor of Botany at the University of Ghana, Legon after joining the institution as a lecturer in 1964.
While at the University of Ghana, he served as the Senior Tutor of the Senior Common Room and the Hall Master for
Akuafo Hall from 1979 to 1980, a hall he had lived in as a student.
He served as the departmental head and was appointed the Dean of Graduate Studies at the university.
He authored more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications including journal articles, abstracts, book chapters, textbooks as well as blueprints for international examination standards.
Clerk's advanced treatise on plant diseases in Ghana and West Africa influenced public policies pertaining to
plant development, as illustrated by his experimental investigation of the fungal
pathogenesis of the
black pod disease
Black pod disease is a protozoal disease of Cocoa trees. This pathogen if left untreated can destroy all yields; annually the pathogen can cause a yield loss of up to 1/3 and up to 10% of total trees can be lost completely. With the value of the ...
in the
cocoa bean
The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully Fermentation, fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of non ...
.
In 1973, he became a
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, the only scholar to be elected that year.
George Clerk's seminal book, ''Crops and their diseases in Ghana,'' was published in 1974, and secured the Ghana Book Award in 1982.
G. C. Clerk was a
Fulbright Scholar at the
University of California, Riverside between 1973 and 1974.
He was a visiting professor at the
Ahmadu Bello
Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto (12 June 1910–15 January 1966), knighted as Sir Ahmadu Bello, was a conservative Nigerian statesman who masterminded Northern Nigeria through the independence of Nigeria in 1960 and served as its first a ...
and
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...
universities in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
.
He assumed the Dean of Science position at the
University of Port Harcourt
The University of Port Harcourt is located in Choba in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The University of Port Harcourt was ran ...
in the mid-eighties.
He was a board director at the
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission from 1996 to 1998 along with his academic colleague,
Marian Ewurama Addy
Marian Ewurama Addy (née Cole; 7 February 1942 – 14 January 2014) was a Ghanaian biochemist and the first Host of the National Science and Maths Quiz. The first Ghanaian woman to attain the rank of full professor of natural science, Addy b ...
, the first Ghanaian woman professor of natural science. He was a resource person, chief examiner for biology and a consultant to the
West African Examinations Council
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is an examination board established by law to determine the examinations required in the public interest in the English-speaking West African countries, to conduct the examinations and to award certif ...
.
He was an external examiner and an assessor for faculty promotions at other institutions of higher education.
Clerk was a regional representative of the
Association of African Universities
The Association of African Universities (AAU) ( ar, اتحاد الجامعات الأفريقية, french: Association des universités africaines) is a university association of African universities based in Accra, Ghana. With member institution ...
.
Furthermore, he was a trustee at major organisations such as the
Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana,
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Ghana National Commission for
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
, the Volta Basin Research Project and the Water Research Institute, formerly the Institute for Aquatic Biology.
Personal life
G. C. Clerk was married; his children were Judith, George, Jnr., Nicholas, Theodore, Daniel and Dinah.
Clerk was a trained pianist.
His older brother was
Nicholas T. Clerk (1930–2012), a former
GIMPA
The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) is a public co-educational university spread over four campuses (Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi) and made up of six schools, ten research centers located at Greenhill in Accra ...
Rector.
Death and funeral
George Clerk died in Accra on 2 May 2019 after a short illness.
Clerk's funeral service was held at the Akuafo Hall Chapel on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, before his burial at the
Osu Cemetery in Accra.
Upon his death, G. C. Clerk's obituary was published by
''Nature'' and the
International Society for Plant Pathology.
Awards and honours
* Fulbright Scholar (1973–1974)
* Ghana Book Award (1982)
Books
* Clerk, G. C. (1963) ''“Studies on the survival and germination of conidia of three entomogenous fungi.”'' London
* (contrib.) Ewer, D. W.; Hall, J. B.; Clerk, G. C. (1972) ''“Ecological biology: for A-level and intermediate students in Africa."'' London: Longman
* Clerk, G. C. (1974) ''"Crops and their diseases in Ghana."'' Tema: Ghana Pub. Corp.
*(contrib.)
Senteza Kajubi, W.; Clerk, G. C. et al. (1974) ''"African Encyclopedia."'' Oxford University Press
*(contrib.) Ewer, D. W.; Hall, J. B.; Clerk, G. C.; Coker, W. Z.; Oldman, R. S.; Owen, D. F. et al. (1989) ''“Ecological biology. 1: Organisms and their environments."'' Harlow: Longman
*Clerk, G. C. (1995) ''"Analysis and Interpretation of Biological Data for Senior Secondary Schools."'' Accra: Fairfield Publications
Bibliography
Further reading
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clerk, George, Carver
1931 births
2019 deaths
20th-century Ghanaian botanists
Alumni of Imperial College London
Alumni of the University of Bristol
Alumni of the University of London
Clerk family of Ghana
Ga-Adangbe people
Ghanaian people of Danish descent
Ghanaian people of German descent
Ghanaian people of Jamaican descent
Ghanaian Presbyterians
Ghanaian scientists
People from Accra
Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School alumni
University of Ghana alumni
Academic staff of the University of Ghana
Academic staff of the University of Port Harcourt
Osu Salem School alumni
Ghanaian mycologists
Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fulbright alumni