G. Ledyard Stebbins

George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University in 1931. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics.

Stebbins was born in Lawrence, New York, the youngest of three children. His parents were George Ledyard Stebbins, a wealthy real estate financier who developed Seal Harbor, Maine and helped to establish Acadia National Park, and Edith Alden Candler Stebbins both parents were native New Yorkers and Episcopalians. Stebbins was known throughout his life as Ledyard, to distinguish himself from his father. The family encouraged their sons interest in natural history during their periodic journeys to Seal Harbor. In 1914, Edith contracted tuberculosis and the Stebbins moved to Santa Barbara, California to improve her health. In California, Stebbins was enrolled at the Cate School in Carpinteria where he became influenced by Ralph Hoffmann, an American natural history instructor and amateur ornithologist and botanist. After graduating from high school, he embarked on a major in political studies at Harvard. By the third year of his undergraduate study, he had decided to major in botany.

Source: Wikipedia