Gerould Wilhelm
American Botanist & lichenologist
After an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at Florida State University, Jerry served a stint as a conscript in the Army; he then joined the staff of the Morton Arboretum. He received his Ph.D. in botany in 1984 at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. His dissertation focused on the vascular flora of the western panhandle of Florida and southwestern Alabama. He co-authored, through years of collaboration with Floyd Swink and Ray Schulenberg, the flora “Plants of the Chicago Region.” He recently completed the “Flora of the Chicago Region, a Floristic and Ecological Synthesis” with co-author Laura Rericha. He was an owner of Conservation Design Forum, Inc., the pioneer company devoted to changing water doctrine in the United States, which asserts that rainwater should be captured and held where it falls. He is also noted for his development of the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) methodology, which has become widely adapted for use in numerous states and provinces. Currently, he is Director of Research for the Conservation Research Institute. His current research is on the lichens of the 54-county Southern Lake Michigan Region.