[Pollinator] Prepare for Unhappy News

[Peter Bernhardt]

Dear Colleagues:

I was contacted by Walter Michener, the son of Dr Charles Michener, our
great bee taxonomist.  Dr Michener senior is in hospice.  His son believes
that Dr Michener has only a few more days.

I've been wrestling with this information for several hours, uncertain as
to whether to circulate it.  Dr Michener has been identifying bees for our
laboratory for a quarter of a century.  What he did not identify he sent to
colleagues.  The two of us exchanged brief emails over the past months as
he intended to identify specimens I sent him from Yunnan, China, collected
over last summer.  His son, Walter, found the communications and formed me
of his father's condition.

Many of you have also benefited from Dr. Michener's professional expertise,
guidance and his personal kindness.  It is probably best to wait for a
final announcement from his family, the KSU museum and the press before
expressing condolences,  That is what I will do.  Perhaps we might think
privately about future tributes.

A link to Michener's wiki is provided.  Please note he is 97 years old.
Consider the remarkably long time in which he helped us and made bee
biology comprehensible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Duncan_Michener

Sincerely,
Peter Bernhardt, Prof. of Biology, Saint Louis U.
Research Associate: The Missouri Botanical Garden
Research Associate: Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney
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