David Daniels Keck (October 24, 1903 – March 10, 1995) was an American botanist who was notable for his work on angiosperm taxonomy and genetics.

Keck was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He completed undergraduate studies at Pomona College in 1925 and was awarded a Ph.D. in botany from the University of California in 1930.

David D. Keck

From 1925 to 1950 he was based at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, at Stanford University, where he worked on plant species concepts with Jens Clausen and William Hiesey. In 1949, the three of them were co-recipients of the Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award in botany.

David D. Keck

In 1950 he was appointed head curator of the New York Botanical Garden and remained there until 1958.

David D. Keck

In 1959, he co-published A California Flora with Philip A. Munz.

He was Program Director for Systematic Biology at the National Science Foundation until 1970, after which he moved to New Zealand. He returned to the United States in 1978 and lived in Medford, Oregon.

References

David D. Keck records, New York Botanical Garden

American botanical writers

American taxonomists

1903 births

1995 deaths

Botanists active in California

Stanford University staff

New York Botanical Garden

Pomona College alumni

20th-century American non-fiction writers

20th-century American botanists

20th-century American male writers

American male non-fiction writers

People from Omaha, Nebraska

People from Medford, Oregon