Mycological Society of America

4 months ago

From Tom Volk:
My dear friend and Medical Mycology mentor, Dr. John Rippon, passed away on March 20, 2019 at the age of 86. He literally wrote the book on Medical Mycology. He wrote the first edition of “Medical Mycology: the pathogenic fungi and the pathogenic actinomycetes” in 1974, even before the AIDS crisis had started, with more people becoming susceptible to fungal infections. His compilation of research was a great aid to medical professionals who had to come to terms with infections they had never seen before. By the time the third edition of was published in 1988, it had become the gold standard for medical mycology throughout the world, translated into Spanish and Polish (and pirated into Chinese). Because of Dr. Rippon’s polished writing style and meticulous attention to detail, his textbook, long out of print, is still coveted by medical professionals and mycologists. John was a true Renaissance Man, with additional expertise in field mycology, botany, birds, opera, and wine. In 2008 I established the John Rippon award for Medical Mycology in the Mycological Society of America. John was also honored as a Distinguished Mycologist in the MSA.
Because of his accomplishments and unique expertise, John was invited all over the world as a guest professor and lecturer. There is always time for touring, and when host asked what he wanted to do, there were two answers: birds and wine. John was a lifelong birdwatcher and saw more than 4000 species of birds in his world travels. He spent much of his free time leading birding expeditions, flower walks, mushrooms walks and lecturing about natural history. In his last 10 years he wrote online book reviews on vertebrate paleontology and DVD reviews of opera performances. He was a dedicated oenophile, with expert level knowledge of wines from all over the world. John was truly a renaissance man, and we are honored to have known him. Requiescat in pace. ... See MoreSee Less

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