G H Cunningham
Dr George H. Cunningham (1892-1962) C.B.E., F.R.S., was the first New Zealand-based mycologist and plant pathologist. In 1936 he was appointed the first director of the 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 Gallipoli veteran. Following this colourful early life, ‘G.H. Cunn.’ started to collect fungi about 1919. Cunningham produced definitive monographs of New Zealand Gasteromycetes (puffballs), Polyporaceae (pore fungi), Thelephoraceae (crust fungi), and Uredinales (rust fungi). He made major contributions to plant pathology in New Zealand, especially with therapeutics and naming of pathogens. In 2004, Landcare Research named the rooms hosting the New Zealand Fungal Herbarium at its Auckland site the GH Cunningham Mycology Suite in his honour.
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