Head and shoulders image of Dr. Thomas C. (Van) Vanterpool, Department of Biology, 1928-1965.

Bio/Historical Note: Born in Saba, West Indies on 22 April 1898, Thomas Clifford (Van) Vanterpool took his early education in Barbados, obtaining the Oxford and Cambridge Higher School Certificate in Science in 1916. The school in Barbados was modelled on the English Public School with its emphasis on sports. Dr. Vanterpool excelled at cricket, soccer and track. After two years as Overseer on a sugar plantation, he entered McGill’s MacDonald College, graduating in 1923 with a BSc and earning an MSc in 1925. He was a member of the basketball, baseball and track teams. Dr. Vanterpool joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1928, where he spent his entire professional life, continuing to work in his laboratory until 1974, nine years after his formal retirement. Dr. Vanterpool did considerable research on browning root rot of cereals, a disease that caused average crop losses in 1928, 1933 and 1939. estimated at $10 million per annum. Dr. Vanterpool identified the causal organisms, as well as showing how the disease could be controlled. He also pioneered research on the diseases of oil seed crops on the prairies, and was responsible for teaching courses in plant physiology, plant pathology and mycology, and botany. In 1968 Dr. Vanterpool was given the first earned DSc awarded by the U of S. Dr. Vanterpool died on 15 January 1984 in Victoria, British Columbia.