CLARENCE MITCHELL TUCKER, 1897-1954
T. W. Bretz

Clarence Mitchell Tucker, Professor and Chairman
of the Department of Botany at the University of Mis-
souri, died after a prolonged illness on February 3, 
1954, in Columbia, Missouri.

The son of Joseph Davis and Lena Theophilus 
(Swinney) Tucker, Mitchell was born in Centralia,
Missouri, on October 28, 1897.  He received the bac-
calaureate degree in Agriculture from the University
of Missouri in 1920, after having served with the U.S.
Marine Corps in 1918-19.  He became Professor of
Plant Pathology at the University of Puerto Rico in
1920, and in 1923 was appointed Plant Pathologist in
the Federal Agriculture Experiment Station.  Maya-
guez, Puerto Rico, a position he held until 1930.  He
spent the academic years 1926-27 and 1929-30 in re-
search and graduate study at the University of Mis-
souri and the Boyce Thompson Institute.  In 1930 the 
University of Missouri awarded him the degree, Doctor 
of Philosophy.  Dr. Tucker served as Associate Plant
Pathologist in the Florida Agricultural Experiment 
Station the following year, and returned to the Uni-
versity of Missouri as Associate Professor of Botany
in 1931.  In 1937 he was appointed Professor and in 
1938 became Chairman of the Botany Department, in
which capacity he served until the time of his death.

As an outgrowth of work on coconut bud rot,
Caused by Phytopthora palmivora Butler, during his
first years in Puerto Rico, Professor Tucker became
interested in the taxonomy of the genus Phytophthora
de Bary.  Through his researches he acquired an in
ternational reputation as an authority on this group
of fungi, and he maintained his eminence in this field
throughout his career.  He will be best remembered in
Missouri for his work on the development of tomato
varieties highly resistant to Fusarium wilt that yielded
exceptionally large harvests when grown under typi-
cal Missouri field conditions.  His active research in 
this and other phases of plant pathology were recorded
in a continuous series of publications, and attracted
a growing group of advanced students who profited
much from his warm personal interest and broad tech-
nical knowledge.

Through his quiet dignity and modesty, Mitchell 
Tucker’s high motives and incisive mind were ever
apparent.  Appointments and elective offices that re-
quired objective judgment and trust gravitated to him.
He served as Councilor-at-Large in the American
Phytopathological Society during 1946-47. as its Vice
President in 1949 and its President in 1950.  During
1946-48 he was an Associate Editor of Phytopathology.
He held several key administrative posts in the Uni
versity of Missouri including the chairmanships of the
University Policy Committee, the Wildlife Council,
and Arts and Science Personnel Committee.  During
the academic year 1951-51 he served as Acting Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences.  His University
colleagues elected him President of their chapter of
Sigma Xi, President of the University Club, and Arts
And Science Representative on the University Com-
mittee on Tenure.  He held memberships in the Ameri-
can Society of Botany, the mycological Society of
America, the American Association of the Advance-
ment of Science, the Missouri Academy of Science,
The Missouri Historical Society, Sigma Phi Epsilon,
and Rotary International.

On September 15, 1920, he married Helen Baskwell
Jones of Ocala, Florida.  Besides his wife he is sur-
vived by their only child, Jacqueline Lee (Mrs. James
C. Dowdy), one brother and two grandchildren.

The memory of Professor Tucker’s inspiring sci-
entific leadership, his sense of fairness, and his in-
sight into human values will remain an enduring in-
fluence at the University of Missouri and among his
colleagues in the field of plant pathology.

Phytopathology for June (45:295.350) was issued June 10, 1955.
351