Mary Helen Goldsmith

Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology

Mary Helen Goldsmith, B.A., Cornell University, Ph.D., Radcliffe College, faculty member at Yale since 1963, Your principal subject, writ large, is the physiology of plants. Your research focused attention on the critical role that plant hormones play in guiding plant growth and development, and in relaying information about the environment to plants. You made seminal contributions to the understanding of the transport of hormones through plant tissues and of the regulation of ion movement across cell membranes. Your long-term leadership role in the American Society of Plant Physiologists culminated in your serving as elected President of that important scientific organization. Your dedication to teaching and to the natural environment has found expression in the depth and variety of your courses, ranging from basic plant physiology to how ecosystems operate. You worked with other faculty at Yale to realize your vision of a major in Environmental Studies, which combines the study of plant biology with other dimensions and features of the environment, and you served as Chair of that program. You served for 16 years as Director of the Marsh Botanical Garden, guiding it through a period of restoration and development, and enhancing its role as an educational resource for teaching at Yale.

You entered into the life of the community in a different way when you became the Master of Silliman College. For eight years, with the help of your husband Tim, you gave yourself day and night and night and day to the students and fellowship in addition to your own teaching and research. In your role as teacher, you were always thinking about how to get students interested in plants and how they function in their environment. Few know how important you were in nurturing students at the great student awakening to the problems of the environment. You gave the Yale Student Environmental Coalition desperately needed space in Silliman’s basement, and even more importantly acted as a consultant, guide and support to them. As a student of the growth and development of plants, and agriculture, you are acutely aware of how the green world contributes to our lives. In the spirit of the way you have contributed to ours, your faculty colleagues on your retirement bestow upon you a virtual spray of the black-eyed susans, sunflowers, goldenrods, asters and meadow grasses from the Marsh Botanical gardens.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans