Mortimer Paul Starr (April 13, 1917–April 29, 1989) was an American microbiologist. After graduating with a PhD at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, he briefly taught at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

before accepting a position at University of California, Davis, where he stayed for thirty-seven years. He was considered an expert on plant pathology, particularly in plant diseases caused by bacteria.

Early life and education

Mortimer Paul Starr was born in New York City on April 13, 1917 to parents Fannie and Morris Starr. He had two brothers, Theodore and Daniel. He received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from

. He then attended Cornell University, graduating with a master's degree in bacteriology and dairy science in 1939 and a PhD in bacteriology in 1943 under

Walter H. Burkholder Walter Hagemeyer Burkholder (February 1, 1891– January 31, 1983) was an American plant pathologist who helped establish the role of bacteria as plant pathogens. He was awarded a Ph.D. by Cornell University in 1917 and subsequently appointed as pro ...

Career

While finishing his PhD, Starr returned to Brooklyn College as an assistant professor of biology. He took a two-year leave of absence from Brooklyn College to conduct research at Hopkins Marine Station as a National Research Fellow. In 1947, he accepted a position at the University of California, Davis as an assistant professor of bacteriology. He would remain at UC Davis for the rest of his career, a total of thirty-seven years. He was considered an expert on plant pathology, particularly the metabolism of plant diseases caused by bacteria. In 1949, he spent three months in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

to help identify a plant pathogen that was killing pasture crops used by dairy farmers. While there, he was also a professor at the

National University of Colombia The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, Ces ...

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

. His research in Colombia was supported by the United States Department of State and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. In 1953, Starr was awarded a research fellowship to spend six months at Cambridge University, followed by time at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. In 1973, he succeeded

Charles E. Clifton Charles Egolf Clifton (March 23, 1904–October 7, 1976) was an American microbiologist. He was a faculty member at Stanford University for forty years, authored two textbooks, and was the editor of the peer-reviewed journal the ''Annual Rev ...

as the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the academic journal the '' Annual Review of Microbiology''. He remained the editor of the journal until 1982, at which time he was succeeded by

L. Nicholas Ornston Leo Nicholas Ornston (born 1940) is an American microbiologist who researched the evolution of microbes. He was a faculty member at Yale University from 1969–2011, where he was made the director of its Center for Biological Transformation. ...

. Starr was the editor of several books, including ''The Prokaryotes: a handbook on habitats, isolation, and identification of bacteria'' (1981). He was a member of several scientific organizations including Sigma Xi, the Society of American Bacteriologists, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Phytopathological Society, the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, and the Society for General Microbiology.

Awards and honors

In 1947, Mortimer Starr received an Honors Day Award from Brooklyn College. Starr was a two-time recipient of a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, receiving the award in 1957 and 1968.

Personal life

Starr married Phoebe in 1944; together, they had three children. He died in Davis, California on April 29, 1989 at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starr, Mortimer P American microbiologists Scientists from New York City 1917 births 1989 deaths Brooklyn College alumni Cornell University alumni Brooklyn College faculty University of California, Davis faculty American phytopathologists American bacteriologists Annual Reviews (publisher) editors 20th-century agronomists