The University Herbarium has received over $1.3 million from the Ed Voss Trust that will be added to the Edward G. Voss Endowment Fund in the Herbarium.

“Ed's bequest will be instrumental in enabling the Herbarium to enhance its position as the preeminent institution working with the plants of Michigan and the Great Lakes region. The plants of this region were Ed’s great love, and this will allow us to continue interests in research, documentation, and digitization,” said Professor Paul E. Berry, director of the Herbarium.

“All of us who work at the Herbarium were both surprised and delighted with the generosity of Ed's gift. I believe it attests to the close bond that Ed felt for the collections and the many decades of his life that he spent at the Herbarium. He clearly wanted to support and strengthen the role of UM's museum collections for plant diversity studies in general and the Great Lakes region in particular.”

Edward G. Voss, professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, curator emeritus of vascular plants at the University Herbarium, and a legendary teacher at the U-M Biological Station, died on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.

Voss’s focus was on the vascular plants of the Great Lakes region and his contributions were legendary. In addition to his career at U-M, he was a long-time instructor at U-M Biological Station, he founded The Michigan Botanist and served in an editorial capacity for 15 years for the journal and many other publications. His most noted accomplishment was the three volume set of Michigan Flora which is still considered “the source” for flora in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. He continued his work on this project well after retirement and, in fact, three days after his death, the U-M Press released Field Manual of Michigan Flora, co-authored by Voss and Dr. Anton A. Reznicek. Voss was a legendary teacher at the U-M Biological Station, continuing to lead short courses well after his retirement.

This munificent gift from the Ed Voss Trust expands upon and continues his legacy well into the future as new discoveries unfold.