Kurz, Herman, 1886-

Dr. Herman Kurz was born in Iowa in 1886. He entered the University of Chicago in 1916 as a freshman at age 30 and received a BS degree in Botany. He also completed his M.S and Ph.D. degree at that institution in 1921 and 1922, respectively. In 1922, he came to the Florida State College for Women as Assistant Professor of Botany. He taught at that institution as Associate Professor and Professor. From 1940-1947, he was head of the FSU's Department of Botany and Bacteriology, and was head of its Department of Botany from 1947-1951. He was widely known among scientists for his field work in plant life of the sand dunes and marshes of Florida, and also Florida trees. Among his publications were the Trees of Florida, which he jointly wrote with Robert K. Godfrey, and Tidal Marshes of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts of northern Florida and Charleston, South Carolina. The latter was a study of marsh plants along the Gulf Coast which related the presence of various species to certain sea levels so that encroachment of the sea could be measured by the decayed deposits from various species. He retired in 1956, and died in Chamblee, GA in December 1965.

Herman Kurz was a professor of botany at Florida State College for Women and Florida State University, serving from 1922 till his retirement in 1956. Kurz served as the head of the Department of Bacteriology and Botany from 1940 to 1947, and later the Botany Department from 1947 to 1951 once the two departments were split. Kurz was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1886. At the age of 20, he became a barber in Chicago and stayed employed in that capacity till he was 26. After taking a high school chemistry course, Kurz decided to pursue higher education at the University of Chicago. During his undergraduate years, he turned toward botany and eventually acquired his Ph.D. in the subject in 1922. Dr. Kurz's publications included 31 titles, including two long monographs and a book, coauthored by Professor Robert K. Godfrey, titled Trees of Northern Florida. He often organized Saturday field expeditions to places of botanical interest, which offered students a valuable mixture of learning experiences outside the classroom.