Mains, E. B. (Edwin Butterworth), 1890-1968

Dates

• Existence: 1890 - 1968

Biographical Information

Edwin B. Mains was the son of Benjamin W. and Mary Ann (Butterworth) Mains, and was born in the little town of Coldwater in Branch county, Michigan. He started his undergraduate education in 1909 at what is now Michigan State University, but after two years transferred to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where, in 1916, he received the Ph.D. degree in Botany. His thesis dealt with the parasite-host relationships in the rust-fungi.

Mains' first professional position was at Purdue University in the Agricultural Experiment Station as an assistant botanist (1916-17). He married Mary Esther Elder in August of 1917. He remained at Purdue until 1930, when, at the death of Professor Calvin Henry Kauffman, he returned to the University of Michigan as professor of Botany, and where, in 1931, he was appointed Director of the University Herbarium.

He was elected president of the Mycological Society of America in 1942, and was a member of many scientific organizations. He retired from the University in 1960. Although he had many projects upon which he planned to work after his retirement, ill health, both of Mrs. Mains and himself, prevented these from being realized. He spent this period of his retirement at his home in Ann Arbor, and on December 23, 1968 passed away as the result of a heart attack.

Citation:

Edwin Butterworth Mains 1890-1968, by Alexander H. Smith, Mycologia, Vol. 61, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1969), pp. 449-451, Mycological Society of America.

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