G. H. Cunningham
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[[Image:Gordon Cunningham.jpg|thumb|G H Cunningham]]
'''George Herriot Cunningham''' ([[27 August]] [[1892]]-[[18 July]] [[1962]]) C.B.E., F.R.S., was the first [[New Zealand]]-based [[mycologist]] and [[plant pathology|plant pathologist]]. In 1936 he was appointed the first director of the [[Department of Scientific and Industrial Research|DSIR]] Plant Diseases Division. Cunningham established the [[New Zealand Fungal Herbarium]], and he published extensively on [[taxonomy]] of many fungal groups. He is regarded as the 'Father' of New Zealand mycology.
In his life, he was a boxer, motorcyclist, gold prospector, farmer, horticulturist, lumberjack, and [[Battle of Gallipoli|Gallipoli]] veteran. Following this colourful early life, ‘G.H. Cunn.’ joined the Biological Laboratory staff at the Department of Agriculture in 1919 as a mycologist, and began a systematic survey of plant diseases in New Zealand. He also began his work classifying fungi. In 1925, he published the first New Zealand work on plant diseases, ''Fungous Diseases of Fruit Trees in New Zealand''. When the Biological Laboratory was moved from Wellington to Palmerston North in 1928 to become the Plant Research Station, Cunningham became the head of a mycology laboratory. The Plant Research Station disbanded in 1936, and Cunningham become the director of the [[Department of Scientific and Industrial Research|DSIR]] Plant Diseases Division.
Cunningham produced definitive monographs of New Zealand [[Gasteromycetes]] ([[puffballs]]), [[Polyporaceae]] (pore fungi), [[Thelephoraceae]] (crust fungi), and [[Uredinales]] ([[rust (fungus)|rust fungi]]).
He made major contributions to plant pathology in New Zealand, especially with therapeutics and naming of pathogens.
In [[2004]], [[Landcare Research New Zealand Limited|Landcare Research]] named the rooms hosting the New Zealand Fungal Herbarium at its Auckland site the '''GH Cunningham Mycology Suite''' in his honour.
==References==
*[http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/C/CunninghamGordonHerriotCbeFrs/CunninghamGordonHerriotCbeFrs/en 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand]
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[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Horticulturists]]
[[Category:Mycologists]]
[[Category:New Zealand biologists]]
[[Category:New Zealand farmers]]
[[Category:Phytopathologists]]