George C. Clerk

George Carver Clerk (born 29 July 1931) is a Ghanaian botanist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Ghana, Legon whose research focused on the ecology and the pathology of plant diseases (phytopathology), indigenous to Ghana and West Africa.^[1][2][3] Clerk, along with his academic contemporary Ebenezer Laing, is one of Ghana's earliest practitioners of botany as a scientific discipline, in addition to being a pioneering plant pathologist in West Africa. ^[4][5][6][7] G. C. Clerk was also inducted as a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973. ^[1][2][3]

Early life and education

George Clerk was born on 29 July 1931 in Adawso in the Eastern Region of Ghana.^[8] His father, Carl Henry Clerk (1895 - 1982) was an agricultural educator, editor, journalist and Presbyterian minister who was elected the Fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1950 to 1954.^[9][10] Carl Clerk was also the Editor of the Christian Messenger, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963. ^[10] His mother, Martha Ayorkor Quao (1912-1989) was from La and Ga Mashie.^[11] G. C. Clerk's father who had earlier studied agricultural science at Tuskegee University, incidentally named him after the African-American botanist, George Washington Carver, perhaps a foreshadowing of the infant George's future career path. ^[10] George Clerk had his primary education at Presbyterian schools.^[12] He attended the middle boarding school, The Salem School at Osu.^[12] He had his secondary education at the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (Presec), Odumase-Krobo. ^[8] He enrolled at the University College of the Gold Coast and received his bachelor’s degree in botany with first-class honours and winning the 1st Prize as the best graduating student in botany from the University of London, then the parent institution of the university college. ^{[13][14][15][4]} G. C. Clerk was then awarded a fellowship for postgraduate research at the University of Bristol and earned a joint PhD-DIC in botany from the Imperial College London, University of London. ^{[13][14][15][4][16]}

Career

He taught biology at Prempeh College at the beginning of his career.^[1] He later became a professor of botany at the University of Ghana, Legon. ^[1][2][3] While at the University of Ghana, he served as the Hall Tutor for the residential hall, Akuafo Hall^[17] from 1979 to 1980.^[1] His research interest is in plant pathology and has authored more than 100 book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, abstratcs and other scientific publications. ^[1][2][3] Clerk's work on plant diseases in Ghana and West Africa has influenced the blueprint for national science and industrial policy in relation to plant development in the agricultural sector within the sub-region.^[5][6][4][7] He was also a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria.^[1] In 1973, he became a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, the only scholar to be elected that year. ^[2][3] He served on the board of directors of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission from 1996 to 1998 along with his academic colleague, Marian Ewurama Addy. ^[18] He has also been a resource person and consultant to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). George Clerk's seminal book in botany, Crops and their diseases in Ghana, was published in 1974. ^[4][7][19]

Family

George C. Clerk is a member of the notable historical Clerk family of Accra, Ghana.^[16][20] His paternal great-grandfather, Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820 - 1906), a Jamaican Moravian missionary who arrived in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg (now the suburb of Osu) in Accra in the Gold Coast in 1843, as part of the original group of 24 West Indian missionaries who worked under the auspices of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel, Switzerland.^{[21][22][23][20]} A.W. Clerk was a pioneer of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and a leader in education in colonial Ghana, establishing a boarding middle school, The Salem School in Osu in 1843. His paternal great-grandmother, Pauline Hesse was from the Gold Coast, and was of German and Ga-Dangme heritage.^[24] His grandfather was Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862 -1961), a Basel-trained theologian and missionary who was the First Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932.^[25][21] N. T. Clerk was a founding father of the all boys’ boarding high school, Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School established in 1938.^[26][16] His grandmother, Anna Alice Meyer (1873 -1934) was of Ga-Dangme and Danish descent.^[25][25]

His father's younger brother, Theodore S. Clerk (1909 - 1965) was the first African architect of the Gold Coast who planned and developed the port city of Tema.^[27][28][29] Matilda J. Clerk (1916 - 1984), his aunt, was the second Ghanaian woman to become an orthodox-trained physician.^[30] His granduncle was Emmanuel Charles Quist (1880 - 1959), a barrister and judge who became the first African President of the Legislative Council from 1949 to 1951, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957, and Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from 1957 to 1959.^[31]

Clerk’s maternal uncle was the Ghanaian barrister and judge, Nii Amaa Ollennu (1906 - 1986) who was elected the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Second Republic as well as serving as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission and acting President of Ghana  from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970.^[32][33] His mother's brother was Nathan Quao (1915 - 2005), the diplomat, educationist and public servant who doubled as a presidential advisor on governance to several Heads of State of Ghana.^[34][35] Moreover, his first cousin was the Ghanaian economist and diplomat, Amon Nikoi (1930 - 2002) who was appointed the Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1973 to 1977 and Finance minister from 1979 to 1981.^[36][37] He is also the cousin of Alexander Adu Clerk (born 1947), the sleep medicine specialist and psychiatrist. ^{[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]}

Personal life

G. C. Clerk has six children but two died at an early age. Clerk is also a trained pianist. His older brother was Nicholas T. Clerk (1930 - 2012), former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Vice-Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Ghana and the Chairman of the Public Services Commission of Uganda from 1989 to 1990.^[47][48][49]

Selected works

• Clerk, G. C. (1960), "A vein-clearing virus of sweet potato in Ghana," Plant Dis. Rep. 44: 932-933 ^[50]
• Clerk, G. C.; Ankora, J. K. (1969). "Development and release of conidia of Phyllactinia corylea". Canadian Journal of Botany. 47 (8): 1289–1290 ^[51]
• Clerk, G. C. (1972). "Germination of Sporangia of Phytophthora palmivora (Butl.) Butl.". Annals of Botany. 36 (4): 801–807 ^[52]
• Clerk, G. C. (1974) "Crops and their diseases in Ghana" Tema: Ghana Pub. Corp. ^[4][7][19]
• Clerk, G.C. (1974). "Ultrastructure of Wall Swellings of Germinating Sporangia of Phytophthora palmivora (Butl.) Butl.". Annals of Botany. 38 (5): 1103–1106 ^[53]
• Clerk G.C.; Apaloo, C. M. (1976) "Studies on the Physiology of Achlya Megasperma Humphrey Occurring In Ponds on the Accra Plains with Special Reference to Its Tolerance To Organic and Inorganic Pollution" ^[54]
• Clerk, G. C. (1978). "Tapinanthus bangwensis in a Cola Plantation in Ghana". PANS. 24 (1): 57–62 ^[55]
• Caesar, J. Cartey; Clerk, G. C. (1985). "Water Stress-Induced Changes in the Morphology of the Powdery Mildew, Leveillula taurica (Lèv.) Arn.". Journal of Phytopathology. 112 (3): 217–221 ^[56]
• Clerk, G. C. (1999) "Assessment of the Effect of Pollen Grains of Maize (Zea Mays L.) on Cercospora Arachidicola Hori. and on Infection of Leaves of Groundnut (Arachis Hypogea L.) caused by the Fungus" ^[57]
• Ameka, G. K.; Clerk, G. C.; Pfeifer, E.; Rutishauser, R. (2003). "Developmental morphology of Ledermanniella bowlingii (Podostemaceae) from Ghana". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 237 (3-4): 165–183 ^[58]
• Annang, Ted Y.; Yirenya-Tawiah, R. D.; Clerk, G. C.; Smith, Thomas (2014). "Some aspects of the ecology of freshwater algae in the Densu River and two tributaries in Southern Ghana". International Journal of Environment. 3 (2): 246–257 ^[59]

References