It is with great sadness that the family of Jack Lee Carter announces his death after a brief illness, on March 10, 2020 at the age of 91 years. He was born in Kansas City, Kansas on January 23, 1929.
Jack attended Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas in 1946-1947 and continued his undergraduate work at Kansas State Teacher’s College (now Emporia State University) in Emporia, Kansas, where he received a Bachelor’s degree, and in 1954, his Master’s Degree.
He went on to earn a Ph.D in Botany at the University of Iowa in 1960 and began his teaching career at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. After several years there he and his young family returned to Emporia, where he taught at Emporia State until 1965.
From there the family moved to Boulder, Colorado where he worked in curriculum design with the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study for two years before moving to Colorado College to accept a professorship at the Colorado College in Colorado Springs. He would remain there for 22 year where the herbarium was later named in his honor. During the summer breaks and on sabbaticals he continued working with other biologists from around the United States and the world to develop biology curricula for high school teachers and students.
In retirement in Silver City, New Mexico he continued working with students at Western State University, traveling statewide to survey and collect the native plants of New Mexico. With the help of other botanists and young botany students he published Trees and Shrubs of Colorado, Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico, and Common Southwestern Native Plants. He was a great mentor, supporter, and friend to those committed to botany and environmental sciences. He was always a teacher and always a learner.
Jack will be lovingly remembered by his wife Martha of 68 years, and his three children and their spouses: Lizbeth Diane Carter and John E. Elmblad, John David Carter, and Laura Lee Carter Rosencrans and Mike Rosencrans, his two grandchildren Justine Dune Carter and Hailey Ann Carter, his extended family, and so many dear friends.
A memorial service will follow at a later date. Memorial donations should be made in memory of Jack L. Carter to the Colorado Native Plant Society (Mission Fund), PO Box 200, Ft. Collins, CO 80522 or Native Plant Society of New Mexico (Carter Fund), PO Box 35388, Albuquerque, NM 87176.
