Richard Charles Banks, 1931–2021

Ornithology, 2024, 141, 1–2 https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukad046 Advance access publication 13 December 2023 In Memoriam In Memoriam Richard Charles Banks, 1931–2021 Richard Charles “Dick” Banks, a major contributor to North American ornithology during the latter half of the 20th century, died peacefully at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, October 24, 2021. He had been under Hospice care for a few months following a 2-week hospitalization in June. Dick was a close, personal friend of mine for more than 60 years, and a colleague and fellow Curator of the Bird Division Collection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). He was an Elective Member (1971) and Fellow (1986) of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU). Dick was born in Steubenville, Ohio, April 29, 1931, to Clinton Seegear and Elizabeth May Harter Banks. His father was a steel mill construction engineer and an amateur naturalist who was a member of the Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS). He encouraged Dick’s interest in the out-of-doors and in birds in particular. In high school, Dick was an active birder and, quite appropriately, an Eagle Scout. Following graduation from high school Dick enrolled in the wildlife conservation program at Ohio State University. He was also in the Army ROTC. He earned his BS in Wildlife Conservation in 1953. Following graduation, he was assigned to the Army’s Medical Service Corps (due in part to his biology background, and in part due to his poor Published by Oxford University Press for the American Ornithological Society 2023. This work is written by (a) retired US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US. Richard Charles Banks, 1931–2021 e yesight). He served in South Korea for a year before being discharged in 1955. Dick then began graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley under Alden H. Miller. He studied Whitecrowned Sparrows, a favorite species of many Miller graduate students. He earned MS (1958) and PhD (1959) degrees at Berkeley. It was while he was a graduate student that Dick and I first became friends at the 1958 meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU, now the AOS) meeting in New York City. We subsequently roomed together many times at bird meetings. During his final year as a student at Berkeley and a Research Biologist at the California Academy of Sciences, Dick joined a University of California expedition to Cerralvo Island in the Gulf of California where he concentrated on studying the island’s birds. He noticed plumage and other morphological differences in the island specimens of a woodpecker, a cardinal, and a sparrow, in comparison to the nearby mainland populations of the three species, and described them as new subspecies in an Occasional Paper of the California Academy of Sciences. He followed that paper with a more comprehensive report in The Condor, supported by a National Science Foundation grant, on the history of all bird species previously recorded on Cerralvo (only 27 species) as well as those he observed during 4 visits to the island between 1960 and 1962 (total species count to 67). Dick’s work and papers on Cerralvo led to his appointment in 1962 as curator of birds, mammals, and exhibits at the San Diego Natural History Museum. He also met his future wife, Gladys (“Chuck”) Sparks, at the museum. I was best man when they married in 1967 in a private ceremony. In 1966, Dick was appointed to the Bird section of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bird and Mammal Laboratories in the NMNH. There he worked closely on North American bird systematics with John Aldrich and Roxie Laybourne, and M. Ralph Browning. When Aldrich retired, Dick became head of the Bird Section, and, subsequently, he headed the Bird and Mammal Laboratories after the retirement of Dick Manville. The primary focus of Dick Banks’ research dealt with the systematics, distribution and nomenclature of North American birds. He was particularly interested in the systematics and speciation of the Canada Goose and White-fronted Goose. He published nearly 100 scientific papers between 1962 and 2011, many co-authored with colleagues. When Dick r etired from the Bird and Mammal In Memoriam 2 Dick received numerous awards in addition to those noted in the opening paragraph. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Cooper Ornithological Society (1992). He received two service awards, the Marion Jenkinson Service Award from the AOU (1998) and the William and Nancy Klemm Service Award from the WOS (2008). The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center presented him with its Scientific Achievement Award (1999). In 2011 the Bird Division of the NMNH named Dick to its Hall of Fame. His papers are deposited in the Smithsonian Archives. Dick was predeceased by his wife, his parents, and a sister, Eleanor Banks Ash. He is survived by his two sons, David and Randy, and two granddaughters. Dick will be sorely missed by all of us whose lives he significantly and lovingly touched. I thank David Blockstein, David Bridge, Carla Dove, and Ellen Paul for their contributions to this memorial essay. George E. Watson Washington, DC, USA Memorials Editor: Ted Anderson, Labs in 2005, he was named Research Associate and Emeritus Research Zoologist of the Smithsonian Division of Birds in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History. Dick was active in several professional societies, particularly the AOU and the WOS. He was named to the Checklist Committee of the AOU in 1971 to work on the expanded sixth edition of the Checklist of North American Birds published in 1983. He subsequently was named Chair of the Committee and lead publication of its even more expanded and comprehensive seventh edition of the Checklist of North American Birds published in 1998. The Checklist and its periodically issued Supplements are important national systematic and management reference documents. Dick also suggested that the AOU publish an Ornithological Newsletter to be circulated to 5,000 ornithologists. He was its editor and publisher for many years. He was Secretary of the AOU for 4 years and President (1994–1996). He was also President of the WOS (1991–1992) and the Washington Biologists’ Field Club (1990–1993). He also served as President of the American Association of Zoological Nomenclature (2001). He was a founding member of the Ornithological Council, a non-profit organization that provides scientific information on birds and the science of ornithology to the U.S. government and the public.  (...truncated)