Ralph Randles Stewart
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Ralph Randles Stewart (April 15, 1890, New York City - November 6, 1993, Duarte, California) was an American botanist who spent his career teaching and studying plants in Pakistan.
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[edit] Education
Stewart obtained his Ph.D. degree (1916) from Columbia University, New York; D.Sc. Honorary (1953) from the University of the Punjab, Lahore and LLD Honorary (1963) from Alma College, Michigan, USA.
[edit] Career
On a call from the UP Church, India, Dr. Stewart joined the Gordon College, Rawalpindi in 1911 to teach elementary Botany and Zoology to pre-medical students. He served as Professor in Botany (1917-1960) and Principal Gordon College, Rawalpindi (1934-1954). Dr. Stewart moved to USA and worked as Research Associate (1960-1982) at the Herbarium of the Michigan University with over 30,000 plant specimens collected from India, Kashmir, Iran etc.
[edit] Awards
Dr. Stewart is one of the few persons who has served Pakistan throughout his active life. In recognition of his services to educational and botanical work, Dr. Stewart was awarded Kaiser-e-Hind (Emperor of India) gold medal 1938, Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Distinction) 1961, Member American Association for Advancement of Sciences 1984, foreign member Pakistan Academy of Sciences 1983.
[edit] Activities in Life
Since at that time the flora of India and Western Himalayas was not well known, Dr. Stewart therefore embarked on collection trips, often going on his pushbike, and went as far as the capital of Kashmir and then crossed into Western Tibet on foot. He continued to collect plants every summer (1912-1959) without any financial support from anyone. In 1960, when Dr. Stewart retired at the age of 70 years, he gave his collection of over 50 thousand plant specimens, now called the Stewart Collection, to Professor E. Nasir at Gordon College (Rawalpindi). The Stewart Collection has now been deposited in the National Herbarium of the Government of Pakistan at Islamabad thus leaving a very rich heritage for the students of plant sciences.
Dr. Stewart has remained as the real stalwart of systematic botany in Pakistan having spent more than 50 years in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Dr. Stewart has made comprehensive reports on the Flora of N. W. Himalayas, Western Tibet, Kashmir, Kurram Valley, Flora of Balochistan and Grasses of West Pakistan. Apart from collecting flowering plants, Dr. Stewart also made a scientific contribution in the collection of mosses, plant disease specimens like rusts, smuts and fleshy fungi which have since been published in Mycologia by Dr. Arthur and Dr. Cummins of Purdue University. One of his most important contributions "An Annotated Catalogue pf Vascular Plants of Pakistan and Kashmir (1972)" serves as the basis of writing the Flora of Pakistan edited by E. Nasir and S.I. Ali (1970-1988), S. I. Ali and Y. J. Nasir (1989-1991) and S. I. Ali and M. Qaiser (1992-). Dr. Stewart again came to Pakistan in 1990 to attend and make a presentation at the International symposium on Plant life of South Asia. The symposium was organized at the Department of Botany, University of Karachi, to commemorate the Centenary of Dr. Stewart. The participation of Dr. Stewart at the symposium is indicative of his interest of plant sciences and specially his love for Pakistan.
[edit] Personal life
Dr. Stewart had two daughters Jean Macmillan Stewart Andrews (1919-1970) born at Sialkot and Ellen Reid Stewart Daniels (1921-1998) born at Jhelum, 6 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. Besides, Dr. Stewart has left behind a large number of Plant Taxonomists in different parts of the world to mourn his loss.
