Edwin Bernard Matzke papers

Edwin Bernard Matzke was a member of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden from 1958 until his death in 1969. He served on the Executive Committee, the Buildings Committee and was Chair of the Scientific Committee from 1962-1969.

He was a member of the faculty of the Columbia University Dept. of Botany from 1929-1966, serving as Chair from 1958-1966. In 1966, he oversaw the establishment of the new combined Biological Sciences Dept. and served as Chair of that department from 1966-1967. Matzke wrote a "History of Botany at Columbia, 1754-1953."

His field of interest was cellular morphology and his research took him into comparing the morphology of animal cells and metal molecules with plant cytology. His first published work was a cutout plan for the Orthic Tetrakaidecahedron (1931). He collaborated with engineers, biologists and his own students. He was Advisory Editor for the Encyclopedia Americana from 1950-1960 and contributed 167 popular articles to that publication. He was active in the Torrey Botanical Club, Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa.

Matzke was born and lived in the Bronx his entire life. The collection underscores the value he placed on education. He kept materials from his elementary school days at P.S. 53 and Morris High School through his college and graduate work.

He was granted a Regents Scholarship to attend Columbia University as an undergraduate. Columbia awarded him a Cutting Travel Fellowship, which enabled him to study at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin during 1928-1929.

The inspired student became an inspirational educator. His relationship to his students was modeled on the mentorship of Carlton C. Curtis, his professor of Botany at Columbia to him. He succeeded Curtis as Department Chair in 1958. Matzke wrote an informal history of Botany at Columbia, 1792-1953 which is held in the collection of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. He also served as Lecturer at Fordham University from 1942-1944.

He moved easily from teacher to collaborator. This is especially true of his work with J.W. Marvin of the University of Vermont and Regina Duffy. Duffy on the eve of her inauguration as President of Northwestern Connecticut Community College in 1969 wrote to him "Any measure of achievement of mine can never equal or even approach the impact of your influence on all of the thousands of undergraduates at Columbia College….Any small success I may attain is due in large part to the education I received from you."

Edwin Bernard Matzke died on Sept. 28, 1969 after a long illness. He was survived by his sister, Mrs. Joseph McCadden.