People of ASP

James Robbers, Professor Emeritus of Pharmacognosy, Purdue Univ., was born in Everett, WA. He received B.S., B.Phar. (1957) and M.S. (1961) degrees from Washington State U. (WSU), and his Ph.D. (1964) degree from Univ. Washington, where he studied with Varro Tyler, who was both mentor and a close personal friend. Jim began his career in academia at Univ. Houston in 1964, joining the faculty at Purdue in 1966, retiring in 1997. His research interests included isolation, biosynthesis, genetics, and physiology of fungal metabolites. He is coauthor of three editions of the text Pharmacognosy and senior author of the latest version, Pharmacognosy and Pharmaco-biotechnology. He also assumed the authorship of Tyler’s Herbs of Choice for its first revision. He recalls that his first ASP meeting was in 1964 at U. Pittsburgh, where Norm Farnsworth and Swede Blomster set the standard for years to come. It featured an International Vinca Alkaloids Symposium and also a case of champagne brought from France by one of the speakers. Jim roomed with the gregarious Lynn Brady, who introduced him to some of the ASP founding fathers. Since that time Jim only missed two meetings until he retired. He culminated his ASP Presidency by the challenge of holding the Exec. Comm. meeting in a crowded café in Strasbourg. He served as Editor of J. Nat. Prod. (1984-1993), when it went from bimonthly to monthly publication. He also served on the Journal Management Board (1995- 1997), and was involved in the negotiations with ACS that led to its joint publication. He is an honorary member of the Association Francaise pour l’Enseignement et la Recherche en Pharmacognosie, and in 2004, WSU honored him with an Alumni Achievement Award for a career of distinguished advancement in pharmacognosy and pharmacobiotechnology. (JER)