Longtime zoology professor honored with endowed seminar

Longtime zoology professor W. Thomas Edmondson is being honored with an endowed graduate student seminar to be named in his memory.

Edmondson died on Jan. 10 at the age of 83. He received a doctorate from Yale University in 1942 and came to the University of Washington in 1949, where he taught for nearly 50 years. Though Edmondson officially retired in 1986, he maintained a lab and continued to do research for the University until shortly before his death. Throughout the course of his long career he earned numerous awards and in 1973 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Edmondson was well known for his contributions to the University and to the Seattle community. His research in the 1950s revealed the disastrous effects of treated sewage effluent on lake ecology. By publicizing the results of this research he helped to raise public awareness of the deterioration of Lake Washington. This led to the formation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Metro) and the eventual recovery of the lake.

The W.T. Edmondson seminar will feature a speaker of note from the fields of limnology or ecology. Donations may be made to the University Foundation and sent to the Department of Zoology, Box 351800. ¶