John Webster

John Webster (25 May 1925 – 27 December 2014) was an internationally renowned mycologist and head of biological sciences at the University of Exeter in England. He also served twice as president of the British Mycological Society. He is recognised for determining the physiological mechanism underpinning fungal spore release, though is probably best known by students of mycology for his influential textbook, Introduction to Fungi. Early life Born in Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, John Webster, along with his twin brother, was the youngest of four children. He studied for his degree at the University of Nottingham between 1943 and 1945. After gaining a first class honours degree, he moved to Hull University in 1946 to become assistant lecturer. There he married his wife, Brom, in 1950. They had two children. He then went to the University of Sheffield to embark on his PhD (on the microfungi associated with the grass Dactylis glomerata), which he completed in 1954. He was subsequently appointed as senior lecturer, and ultimately reader, in A. R. Clapham's Botany Department there. In 1969 he was appointed professor and head of department in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. Webster's early interests centred on the study of fungi on grasses, though by the 1970s he focussed his attentions on aquatic hyphomycetes. Contributions to mycology Webster helped organise the first International Mycological Congress, which was held at Exeter University in September 1971. He acted as its secretary, with G.C.Ainsworth as chairman of the organising committee and C.T.Ingold as its president. The Exeter congress led directly to the formation of the International Mycological Association. Webster also served two terms as president of the British Mycological Society, firstly in 1969, then again in its centenary year in 1996.