William Clark Denison (June 1, 1928 – April 8, 2005) was an American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

. Born in Rochester, New York, Denison attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, from which he earned a B.A. degree in 1950, and a Master's degree in 1952. Under the supervision of

Richard Korf Richard Paul "Dick" Korf (May 28, 1925 – August 20, 2016) was an American mycologist and founding co-editor of the journal ''Mycotaxon''. He was a preeminent figure in the study of discomycetes and made significant contributions to the field of ...

, Denison completed a

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. albu ...

from Cornell University in 1956 on the

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

genus '' Scutellinia''. He accepted a position as associate professor in the department of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University in 1966, simultaneously becoming curator of the mycological

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 ...

. He retired from Oregon State University in 1993. He was described as "a pioneer in the use of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.

Honors and awards

The fungus species '' Nanoscypha denisonii'' is named in his honor, as was the lichen '' Sinuicella denisonii''.

Taxa described

Genera: *''

Geodina ''Geodina'' is a genus of fungi in the family Sarcoscyphaceae. This genus contains two species: ''Geodina guanacastensis'', found in Costa Rica, and ''Geodina salmonicolor'', found in the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es ...

'' *''

Nanoscypha ''Nanoscypha'' is a genus of fungi in the family Sarcoscyphaceae The ''Sarcoscyphaceae'' are a family of cup fungi in the order Pezizales. Members of the Sarcoscyphaceae are cosmopolitan in distribution, found in both tropical and temperate re ...

'' *'' Strobiloscypha'' Species: *''

Scutellinia armatospora ''Scutellinia'' is a genus of cup-fungi in the family Pyronemataceae. The genus is widely distributed, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, and according to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), contains 66 species. Species * ...

'' *'' Scutellinia verrucipolaris'' *'' Cheilymenia alleghenensis'' *'' Geodina guanacastensis'' *'' Phillipsia costaricensis'' *'' Nanoscypha macrospora'' *'' Nanoscypha pulchra'' *'' Strobiloscypha keliae''

References

1928 births 2005 deaths American mycologists Oberlin College alumni Cornell University alumni Scientists from Rochester, New York {{mycologist-stub