Robert W. Read was a curator in the botany department of the National Museum of Natural History from 1973-1989. He was born in 1932 in Woodbury, New Jersey and earned degrees from the University of Miami, Cornell University and the University of the West Indies. Read's research took him throughout the U.S., Caribbean, and down into Central and South America. He also visited gardens as far away as England and Sri Lanka during his career. Read also served as botanist at the renowned Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami. Upon retiring, he continued working in the field of botany and took an active role in land preservation projects in Collier County, Florida. He helped establish, and was chairman of the Naples Botanical Garden. Read died on July 15, 2003 in Hollywood, Florida.
Smithsonian Institution Archives Field Book Project: Person : Description : rid_593_pid_EACP590
