Zeno Payne Metcalf (1885-1956) was born in Lakeville, Ohio and was educated at Ohio State University. He received his A.B. degree in 1907 and came to North Carolina as Assistant Entomologist for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture in 1908. He joined the faculty of N.C. State College in 1912 as Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, a position he held until 1950. He attended Harvard University and was awarded the degree of Sc.D. in 1925. From 1923 until 1944 he served as Director of Instruction for the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences; from 1940 until 1943 was Director of Graduate Studies at N.C. State College; and from 1943 to 1950 was Associate Dean of the Graduate School of the Consolidated University. Metcalf retired from administrative duties in 1950 but continued to work as a research professor of entomology from 1950 until his death in 1956. For most of his career Metcalf was dedicated to compiling and cataloguing his vast library of research materials relating to the Insect Order Homoptera, and was working on the General Catalogue of the Homoptera of the World, the 42-volume index to his collection, until the day he died. He married Mary Luella Correll in 1909 and had a daughter, Katherine (Mrs. Micou Browne).
From the guide to the Zeno Payne Metcalf Entomology Research Collection, 1741 - 1982, (Special Collections Research Center)
