We are saddened to report that David M. Gates passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday, March 4, 2016. Gates joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1971 as a professor of botany and director of the U-M Biological Station. He was named professor emeritus in 1991. As the New York Times states, Gates sounded an early alarm on environmental perils. 

A celebration of his life will be held at UMBS in July. Read more in a New York Times environment article and in the following obituaries: New York Times, Ann Arbor News, UMBS web news