Nationality USA Name Robert Orr | Doctoral advisor Joseph Grinnell | |
Born 17 August 1908
San Francisco, California ( 1908-08-17 ) Residence San Francisco, California Institutions Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of San Francisco
California Academy of Sciences Alma mater University of California, Berkeley Known for Curating zoological collections at California Academy of Sciences
Textbook on vertebrate zoology
Mycology guidebooks Spouse Margaret Cunningham (m. 1972) Died June 23, 1994, Larkspur, California, United States Education University of California, Berkeley Books Mammals of Lake Tahoe Fields Vertebrate zoology, Natural history, Mycology | ||
Robert Thomas Orr (17 August 1908 – 23 June 1994) was an American biologist known for his work as a zoologist and natural historian.
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Early life and education
Orr was born in San Francisco, California to Robert Harry Orr and Clara Cockburn Orr. He received his B.S. degree in biology from the University of San Francisco in 1929. His M.A. and Ph.D. degrees were earned at the University of California, Berkeley while studying in the laboratory of Joseph Grinnell.
Career
Orr spent most of his career in San Francisco as curator of the ornithology and mammalogy collections at the California Academy of Sciences (1936–1963), and a faculty member at the University of San Francisco (1942–1963). He served as Associate Director of the California Academy of Sciences from 1964 to 1975. Orr's research consisted studies of seals, sea lions and whales along the California coast. addition to his work in mammalogy and ornithology, Orr was considered an authority on wild mushrooms. He was known for leading mushroom hunting expeditions in the moist coastal forests of Mendocino County, California, delighting amateur "Mendocino Mushroomers" with tales of mushrooms and fungi. Orr served as President of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1976–1977. He died on June 23, 1994 at his home in Larkspur, California at the age of 86. The San Francisco Chronicle reported he had a long illness.
Selected publications
Orr wrote 260 scientific and popular articles mostly on mammalogy and ornithology. He also wrote three books on fungi, and he co-authored (with his wife, Margaret Cunningham Orr) a book of western North American wildflowers. He authored a textbook on vertebrate biology that was first released in 1961, with the final fifth edition released in 1981. His publications include: