DR. RICHARD P. KORF
May 28, 1925 – August 20, 2016

Dr. Richard Paul “Dick” Korf (May 28, 1925 – August 20, 2016) was an American
 mycologist and founding co-editor of the journal Mycotaxon. He was a preeminent figure in the study of discomycetes and made significant contributions to the field of fungal nomenclature and taxonomy. Korf was professor emeritus of mycology at Cornell University and director emeritus of Cornell University’s Plant Pathology Herbarium.*

Early Life and Education

Korf was born on May 28, 1925, to an upper-middle-class family with homes in Westchester County, New York, and New Fairfield, Connecticut. While attending the prestigious Riverdale Country School in New York City, Korf was placed in charge of his biology class after their teacher joined the military. “In retrospect,” Korf wrote, “I am convinced that this experience had an enormous impact on my future and on my decision to enter the teaching profession.”

In 1942, shortly after his 17th birthday, Korf enrolled at Cornell University “with the vague notion that [he] might like to become a gentleman farmer.” At the suggestion of botany professor Loren C. Petry, Korf began studying plant pathology under Herbert Hice Whetzel. Korf continued his training under mycologist Harry Morton Fitzpatrick, whom he nicknamed “Prof Fitz.” Korf completed his B.S. in botany in 1946 and doctorate in plant pathology and mycology with minors in genetics and general botany in 1950.

Contributions to Mycology

Professorship

Following the completion of his doctorate, Korf spent a year teaching mycology at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He returned to Cornell in 1951 as a faculty member in the Department of Plant Pathology. He was named Associate Professor in 1955 and Professor of Mycology in 1961. He retired in 1992 but continued to teach until 1998, when he was replaced by Kathie Hodge. Korf trained and advised 27 PhD students, including Lekh Raj Batra, William C. Denison, K. P. Dumont, James Kimbrough, Donald H. Pfister, Martin A. Rosinski, Robert L. Shaffer, Robert A. Shoemaker, and Wenying Zhuang.

Herbarium

Korf was director emeritus of the Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP), one of the largest fungal herbariums in the United States. Korf traveled globally over the course of his career, collecting fungi in Belgium, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Macaronesia, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, and Taiwan. The Richard P. Korf Herbarium within CUP boasts nearly 5000 specimens, including 257 type specimens. This collection is dominated by taxa of particular interest to Korf: Arachnopeziza, Calycella (now Bisporella), Cheilymenia, Chlorosplenium, Dasyscyphus, Hyaloscypha, Hymenoscyphus, Mollisia, Orbiliaceae, Peziza, Rutstroemia, Scutellinia, and Trichophaea.

Mycotaxon

Korf co-founded Mycotaxon, an international peer-reviewed journal of taxonomy and nomenclature of fungi and lichens, with co-worker Grégoire L. Hennebert in 1974. Korf oversaw journal preparation, final editing, and subscription management as Managing Editor & English Language Editor (1974-1991) and business manager (1991–2006). He served as Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief from 1998 to 2003 and as treasurer of the corporation from 1999 to his passing in 2016.

Mycotaxon reached 131 published volumes in 2016.

Personal Life

While on sabbatical in Japan in 1957, Korf met his wife Kumiko “Kumi” Tachibana, a fine artist specializing in printmaking. Her younger sister was a student in his English conversation group at Yokohama National University. They married and had four children together: Noni, Mia, Ian, and Mario.

In the 1960s, Korf chaired the Liberal Party of Tompkins County, New York.

In 1972, Korf purchased Exe Island on Big Rideau Lake in Portland, Ontario, Canada. He later transferred the three acre island with cottage to Mycotaxon, Ltd. as Exe Island Biological Station.

Korf enjoyed the card game Crazy Eights, and is remembered for organizing tournaments at mycological conferences and during holidays on Exe Island.

Korf passed away on August 20, 2016, at the age of 91 at home in Ithaca, New York.

Thespian Activity

Korf was an active thespian with a lifelong enthusiasm for theatre arts. Performing in plays since childhood, he acted on Cornell and Ithaca stages and in the recording studio. Korf performed under the pseudonym “Jonah Webster” as a student to hide his “favorite avocation” from professor Harry Morton Fitzpatrick, who disapproved of non-mycological pursuits. Korf served part-time as chair of Cornell’s Department of Theatre Arts from 1985 to 1986.

Honors, Awards and Memberships

Honors and awards

⦁    2010, Ainsworth Medal for extraordinary service to international mycology, International Mycological Congress
⦁    1996, British Mycological Society Centenary Fellow
⦁    1993, Gamma Sigma Delta Cornell Chapter 1992 Distinguished Teaching Award
⦁    1992, State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
⦁    1991, Distinguished Mycologist Award, Mycological Society of America
⦁    1972–73, Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, Université Catholique de Louvain
⦁    1957–58, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow (declined)
⦁    1957–58, National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, Yokohama National University

Memberships

⦁    Mycological Society of America
⦁    British Mycological Society
⦁    Société Mycologique de France
⦁    Mycological Society of Japan
⦁    International Association for Plant Taxonomy

Taxa described

Korf described or reclassified hundreds of species of fungi. The standard author abbreviation Korf is applied to taxa he described. A partial list is given below:

Eponymous taxa

Publications

Korf was a prolific author, having published over 400 papers, many in his journal Mycotaxon.  A partial bibliography is given below:

sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_P._Korf;https://www.mycotaxon.com/pubsRPK.html; Iturriaga, T. (2023, Aug 14-17). Remembering Richard P. Korf [Conference Presentation]. The Richard P. Korf Memorial North American Ascomycete Foray, Highlands, North Carolina, USA.

A commemorative issue of Mycotaxon celebrating the life and work of Dr. Korf (which serves as the inspiration for the official Foray shirt) can be found here.  Copies will be for sale at the Korf Foray for $12 each, with all proceeds going to Mycotaxon.