Dr. James Hardin, Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium at NC State University, passed away on March 22nd, 2024.
Dr. Hardin moved to Raleigh in 1957 as Assistant Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium at NC State, and during his career at NCSU, he was a teacher, curator, researcher and author and he taught systematic botany several summers at Mt. Lake Biological Station in Virginia and the Oklahoma Biological Station. Dr. Hardin was recognized as an outstanding teacher twice by NC State University, and was awarded the Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award from the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club, the Meritorious Teaching Award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists, and the NCSU 1994 Research Friend of Extension Award. He was an expert in the buckeyes, Aesculus and Sapindaceae. Dr. Hardin’s career in the Botany Department yielded many enduring friendships with colleagues and their families. Recently, his taxonomic treatment of the genus for the Flora of the North America series from Oxford University Press was published.
Please enjoy this excerpt from a history of the herbarium published in 2001 by Dr. Alexander Krings. (Journal of Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 117 (4): 224-239):
“The most significant period of NCSC’s growth and contribution to the floristic knowledge of North Carolina, aside from the early years of Fox, occurred during the tenure of James Walker Hardin. Born in 1929 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Hardin received his doctorate in 1957 from the University of Michigan and subsequently accepted appointment as Assistant Professor and Curator at North Carolina State College. A respected educator and researcher, Hardin published broadly on southeastern plants, with interests ranging from poisonous plants to the taxonomy of trees, shrubs, and herbs, to the micro-morphology of foliar surfaces (e.g., Hardin, 1961a, 1961b; Hardin and Cooper, 1967; Hardin and Arena, 1969; Hardin, 1971; Hardin, 1975; Hardin and Phillips, 1985; Hardin, 1990; Hardin, 1992). Hardin also oversaw the floristic exploration of many under-collected regions and parks of North Carolina, undertaken through thesis projects by his many graduate students. Numerous exchanges continued or were initiated during his tenure involving at least 30 institutions from the United States and abroad. Several private and state collections were also transferred to NCSC at this time.”
View his obituary here.
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