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= George F. Weber = George Frederick Weber was an American plant pathologist and mycologist. Throughout much of his career, he worked as a vegetable plant pathologist at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. He later helped initiate graduate degree programs in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida.

Early Life and Education
George F. Weber was born in Alexandria, South Dakota on May 19, 1894. Weber received his B.S. from South Dakota State University in 1916, marrying Kate Caldwell in 1917. From 1916 to 1918, he served in the U.S. Army, becoming a Captain during World War I. He was a member of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe, earning the Croix de Guerre award for bravery in action. After returning home from the war, he began studying Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin. He earned his M.S. degree in 1920 and finished his Ph.D. two years later.

Career
After completing his Ph.D. in 1922, he began working at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station as a vegetable plant pathologist. He studied and published primarily on tropical diseases affecting crop vegetables, including gray leaf spot, bacterial spot, and downy mildew; researchers consider much of his work foundational in the field. He eventually became Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida.

As an involved academic, he was a member several scientific associations, including the American Phytopathological Society (APS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Florida Academy of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Association of University Professors, the American Legion, the Botanical Society of America, and the Mycological Society of America. He served as the Vice President and President of APS, becoming their first elected Fellow. He was also a member of many honor societies, such as Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Sigma, Gamma Alpha, and Phi Kappa Phi. During World War II, he became a consultant to the office of Scientific Research and Development of the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army.

Weber was an active community member as well. He started several programs on community outreach and taught Plant Pathology to elementary students on a regular basis. He also encouraged students to get engaged and often served as a faculty advisor to members of Delta Tau Delta, a social fraternity. Aside from academics, he volunteered as an assistant football coach when he first began tenure and as a timekeeper at all track meets during his entire career at the University of Florida.

While living in Gainesville, he happened across William A. Murrill, a prominent mycologist and founder of the journal Mycologia. Murrill had been spending the winters in Florida and when Weber found him, he was playing the piano at a local resort called the Tin Can Tourist Camp. With Weber’s help, Murrill was able to continue collecting in Florida and contribute to the university’s fungal herbarium (FLAS-F), while conducting research out of a stairwell desk office. In fact, Murrill named several taxa after Weber, including the following: Agaricus weberianus, Astylospora weberi, Cortinarius weberi, Entoloma weberi, Gymnopilus weberi, Hebeloma weberi, and Inocybe weberi (“Mycobank”). He wrote several biographies published in Mycolgogia, including Murrill’s after his death, in addition to his other friend and coworker Erdman West’s, who was the herbarium curator while Weber worked and taught at the University of Florida. Weber helped preserve over 2,000 museum specimens, many of which are still used in research today.

Publications
During his 42-year long career, Dr. Weber authored over 110 research papers and published educational bulletins on vegetable and field crop diseases in Florida. Many of his publications are available online, but others are only available in print at the University of Florida Marston Science Library. Even after his retirement in 1964, he published the reference book “Bacterial and Fungal Diseases of Plants in the Tropics.”

Many of his scientific publications include the following list:


 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Diseases of Peppers in Florida. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Some Diseases of Cabbage and Other Crucifers in Florida. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Nailhead Spot of Tomato Caused by Alternaria Tomato (Cke.) N. Comb. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1939. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Spraying and Dusting Cucumbers for Control of Downy Mildew from 1925 to 1930. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1931. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Angular Leaf Spot and Fruit Rot of Cucumbers Caused by Bacterium Lachrymans E.F.S. & Bry. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1929. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick). Bottom Rot and Related Diseases of Cabbage Caused by Corticium Vagum B. & C. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1931. Print.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick), and Erdman West. Diseases of Sweet Potatoes in Florida. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1930. Print.
 * Walker, Weber, G. F., & Weber, G. F. (George F. (1931). Diseases of watermelons in Florida. University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.
 * Weber, George F. “Corticium Microsclerotia Nom. Nov.” Mycologia 43.6 (1951): 727–728. Web.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick), D. G. A. Kelbert, and D. G. A. (David G. A.) Kelbert. Seasonal Occurrence of Tomato Diseases in Florida. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1940. Print.
 * Jackson, Curtis R., and George F. Weber. “Morphology and Taxonomy of Alternaria Cucumerina.” Mycologia 51.3 (1959): 401–408. Web.
 * Weber, George F. (George Frederick) et al. Gray Leafspot : a New Disease of Tomatoes. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932. Print.
 * Foster, Weber, G. F., Weber, G. F., & Weber, G. F. (George F. (1924). Celery diseases in Florida. University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.
 * Waddell, & Weber, G. F. (1963). Physiology and Pathology of Septoria Species on Chrysanthemum. Mycologia, 55(4), 442–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.1963.12018038
 * Weber. (1929). The Occurrence of Tuckahoes and Poria Cocos in Florida. Mycologia, 21(3), 113–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.1929.12016943
 * Weber, George F., and Frederick A. Wolf. “Heterothallism in Blakeslea Trispora.” Mycologia, vol. 19, no. 6, 1927, pp. 302–07, https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.1927.12020560.

Some of his books include:


 * Weber, George F. Bacterial Spot of Peppers. 1940.
 * Weber, George F. Thread Blight of Woody Plants. 1940.
 * Weber, George F. Web Blight of Beans. 1940.
 * Weber, George F. Blossom-End Rot of Tomatoes. 1938.
 * Weber, George F. Yellow Pine Blister Rust. 1938.
 * Weber, George F. Leaf Blister of Oaks. 1941.
 * Weber, George F. Cowpea Scab. 1941.
 * Foster, A. C., George F. Weber, and George F. (George Frederick) Weber. Celery Diseases in Florida. Gainesville, Fla: University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, 1927. Print.

Awards and Accolades
Weber was well recognized for his academic achievements and community service. He received the Outstanding Research award from Florida Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association in 1964. In the year of his death in 1976, the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services gave him the Award of Eminence for Plant Protection, recognizing over 40 years of research on plant diseases in the state. That same year, the Governor of South Dakota proclaimed June 12 to be “George Weber Day” in recognition of his contributions to Plant Pathology, his alma mater, and the development of the Heritage Center Museum at South Dakota State University. Weber passed away in his Gainesville home on December 8, 1976.