- Henry Sheldon Fitch
Henry Sheldon Fitch (born
December 25 ,1909 ) is a U.S.herpetologist .He was born in
Utica, New York . When he was one year old, the family moved to Medford in theRogue Valley inOregon . Growing up on his father's 116acre (0.5 km²) ranch, he had a keen interest in all the reptiles he could find already as a child. He retells that he particularly likedsnake s, for "the real bonus was in seeing horrified adults scatter."In 1926 he enrolled at the
University of Oregon , but switched for graduate work to theUC Berkeley , where he got an M.A. in 1933 and a Ph.D. inzoology in 1937. From 1938 to 1947 he worked for theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as a field biologist in the department for pest control studying rodents such assquirrel s,gopher s, orkangaroo rat s.During
World War II , he served from 1941 to 1945 in the Medical Corps as an Army pharmacist. He was stationed in the UK and later inFrance and finally inGermany . In 1946 he married Virginia Ruby Preston, with whom he would have three children. After some difficulties in getting back his old job at the USFWS he left them in 1948 and accepted a position as superintendent of theUniversity of Kansas Natural History Reservation and instructor of zoology, where he could again pursue his studies ofsnake s andlizard s. He became assistant professor in 1949 and full professor in 1958.From 1965 on, he did extensive field work in
Costa Rica ,Mexico ,Nicaragua ,Ecuador , and theDominican Republic . In 1976, he took up field work inNicaragua and succeeded in getting a five-year-plan for "ctenosaura " conservation instituted in the 1980s. He retired in 1980, but as of 2006, he was still an active herpetologist, collecting snakes and publishing papers.References
*Stewart, M.M; Echelle, A.F.; Fitch, H.S.: "Historical Perspective: Henry S. Fitch", in "Copeia", Vol. 2000, No. 3, pp. 891 – 900. Interview with Henry S. Fitch, conducted on
September 6 ,1998 by his daughter Alice Fitch Echelle and her family.
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