Jack Warcup

Dr. John 'Jack' Henry Warcup (1921-1998) was an influential mycologist. Born in New Zealand in 1921, Jack moved to the UK to undertake his PhD, examining distribution of fungi through soil profiles at Lakenheath Warren, in the University of Cambridge's botany department. In 1996 he became a British Mycological Society Centenary Fellow. He worked as a member of the Botany Department in the UK Forestry Commission until 1951, when he accepted a position as a senior microbiologist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the then Waite Agricultural Research Institute, University of Adelaide where he worked until his retirement in 1986. He was best known for his work with orchid mycorrhiza fungi, along with Aspergillus and Penicillium species. He was the patron of the Australasian Mycological Society, and two monotypic genera of fungi: Warcupia (family Pyronemataceae) and Warcupiella (family Trichocomaceae)are named in his honour.

References

• Parbery DG (1998) 'Obituary John Henry Warcup (1921-1998)' Australasian Plant Pathology 27:(2) p130.
• Simpson JA (1998) 'Obituary Jack Warcup' Australasian Mycological Newsletter 17. p43.