Voth, Paul D

Paul Dirks Voth was a University of Chicago alumni (S.M. 1930, Ph.D. 1933) and faculty member of the Department of Botany. Born in Gotebo, Oklahoma, on June 12, 1905, Voth was raised in Mennonite communities. He graduated from Bethel College in 1929, and studied at the Rocky Mountain Biological Station in Crested Butte, Colorado, pursuing graduate study in botany at University of Chicago.

Voth was known for his research on the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, working with his students to determine requirements for nutrition and cultivation of this species. He was also particularly interested in lichens and Hemerocallis (daylilies). He traveled widely for both teaching and research purposes: In 1938, his family traveled to Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone, where he conducted an intensive study of tropical vegetation. In 1951, he traveled to the Arctic Research Laboratory in Point Barrow, Alaska, where he researched plants growing in permanently frozen substrate.

Teaching was an important part of Voth's academic career. In 1940, he was awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He served on university committees to develop undergraduate programs in the biological sciences, as well as teacher education programs. He developed textbooks, films, and laboratory material for high school teaching, and taught summer biology institutes for gifted high school students.

In addition to his faculty and administrative duties in the Department of Botany, Voth had a keen interest in the department's history, particularly the activities of early faculty such as Henry C. Cowles, Charles J. Chamberlain and Ezra J. Kraus.

Outside the university, Voth served as associate editor of Botanical Gazette from 1960-1974, and was a botanical consultant for encyclopedia publishers and educational film producers. He belonged to numerous professional organizations, serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Bryological Society (1939-1941) and Chairman of the Teaching Section of the Botanical Society of America (1950), as well as administrative positions with the Illinois State Academy of Science. Voth was active in community gardening and neighborhood beautification programs, an avid daylily breeder, and speaker at meetings of garden clubs and other organizations.

After retiring from the faculty of University of Chicago, Voth continued to teach at Northern Illinois University in the 1970s. Voth died in 1992, survived by his wife Selma ("Sally") J. Graber, two children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

From the guide to the Voth, Paul D. Papers, 1884-1989, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)