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Chester Ray Benjamin, 1923–2002

     Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Room 304, B011A, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350

Chester Ray Benjamin, a mycologist who worked at the two major research facilities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, first in Peoria, Illinois, and later in Beltsville, Maryland, died April 20, 2002. His research interests primarily were concerned with systematics of the Eurotiales and Mucorales. He discovered and described the ascomatal states produced by species of Aspergillus and Penicillium (Eurotiales). In addition, he published monographic accounts of several genera in the Mucorales. Throughout the years he conducted research jointly with colleagues on diverse topics ranging from the presence of carotenoids in Pestalotiopsis to a new species of soil fungus. He served as president of the Mycological Society of America in 1967.

View larger version (164K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIG. 1. Chester Benjamin transferring fungal cultures at the U.S. National Fungus Collections, May 1962

In 1960 Benjamin joined the Mycology Investigations in the Crops Protection Research Branch of the Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, where he served as principal mycologist and investigations leader from 1960 to 1971. He held this position after the long tenure of John A. Stevenson, who developed both the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI) and the extensive mycological reference library. Benjamin carried on the tradition by acquiring major fungus herbaria, including the fungal specimens of the Missouri Botanical Garden. He wrote a detailed, comprehensive history of the U.S. National Fungus Collections (Benjamin 1963). Benjamin was president of the Mycological Society of America at a time when the society had doubled in size in five years, reaching 1200 members. His presidential address given at the annual meeting of the MSA in College Station, Texas, was titled "The Changing Face of Mycology" (Benjamin 1968). One of the strategies that he advocated for furthering mycology was "increased participation in international activities", an admonition that he was to put into practice. In the late 1960s, Benjamin led the United States delegation to the U.S.- Japan Toxic Micro-organisms Conference in Japan and Hawaii. In 1971 he left mycology to serve in various administrative positions at the State Department and later at the USDA's Office of International Cooperation and Development, from which he retired in 1984. As a science diplomat, he was coordinator of U.S.-Japan programs in natural resources and was involved in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Benjamin was a delightful, somewhat shy person, with a quiet sense of humor, who was able to smooth over differences among those he worked with and supervised. He could hammer out a bit of hot jazz on the piano and is said to have popped out of a cardboard cake at a laboratory holiday party. He married Margaret Elliot Hart in 1947 and they have one daughter, Karen B. Paris. Benjamin was an even-tempered, considerate leader, who helped strengthen the U.S. National Fungus Collections and promote the Mycological Society of America.

	ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 
I wish to thank the people who provided insight into the contributions and personality of Chester Benjamin; they are Margaret Benjamin, Marie L. Farr, Lafeyette Frederick, Paul Lentz and Arthur Welden.

	FOOTNOTES

 
¹ E-mail: arossman{at}nt.ars-grin.gov

Accepted for publication January 1, 2003.

	LITERATURE CITED

TOP LITERATURE CITED

 
Benjamin CR., 1955 Ascocarps of Aspergillus and Penicillium. Mycologia 47:669-687

———, Hesseltine CW., 1957 The genus Actinomucor. Mycologia 49:240-249

Hesseltine CW, Benjamin CR., 1957 Notes on the Choanephoraceae. Mycologia 49:723-733

———, ———, Mehrotra BS., 1959 The genus Zygorhynchus. Mycologia 51:173-194

Benjamin CR, Hesseltine CW., 1959 Studies on the genus Phycomyces. Mycologia 51:751-771

Christensen CM, Papavizas GC, Benjamin CR., 1959 A new halophilic species of Eurotium. Mycologia 51:636-640

Benjamin CR, Stodola FH, 1960 Ramulosin, a C10H14O3 compound produced by the fungus Pestalotia ramulosa. Nature 188:662-663

Hesseltine CW, Benjamin CR., 1961 Microbiological production of carotenoids. VI. Some factors affecting sporulation and growth in the Choanephoraceae. Mycologia 51:887-901

Benjamin CR, Hesseltine CW., 1961 Studies on the genus Phycomyces. Mycologia 51:751-771

———. 1963 The National Fungus Collections. Plant Sci Bull 9:1-6

Christensen CM, Lopez FLC, Benjamin CR., 1965 A new species of Eurotium from rough rice stored in Mexico. Mycologia 57:535-542

Benjamin CR., 1968 The changing face of mycology. Mycologia 60:1-8

Pollack FG, Benjamin CR., 1969 Arthrinium japonicum and notes on Arthrinium kamtschaticum. Mycologia 61:187-190

Frederick L, Uecker FA, Benjamin CR., 1969 A new species of Neurospora from soil of West Pakistan. Mycologia 61:1077-1084

Benjamin CR, Slot A., 1969 Fungi of Haiti. Sydowia 23:125-163

Jong SC, Benjamin CR., 1971 North American species of Nummularia. Mycologia 63:862-876

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