Eugene Pleasants Odum (September 17, 1913 – August 10, 2002) was an American biologist at the University of Georgia known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology. He and his brother Howard T. Odum wrote the popular ecology textbook, Fundamentals of Ecology (1953). The Odum School of Ecology is named in his honor. Biography Son of the sociologist Howard W. Odum, and older brother of the ecologist Howard T. Odum, E.P. Odum credited his father for imparting a holistic approach to exploring subjects. When contemplating where to conduct his advanced graduate work, he rejected both the University of Michigan and Cornell University, as he did not feel that this holism was embodied in their approach to their biology departments. Instead, he chose the Graduate Department of Zoology at the University of Illinois, where he earned his doctorate degree. There Odum was a student of Victor Shelford, whose efforts led to the establishment of The Nature Conservancy. After getting his Ph.D. in 1939, Odum was hired to be the first resident biologist at the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve and Biological Research Station, in Rensselaerville, New York. The 430-acre preserve had been founded in 1931 and its research station established in 1938. The Preserve’s first summer research fellows, also selected in 1939, were Edward C. Raney and Donald Griffin. Raney, who had just finished his Ph.D. at Cornell, studied green frogs and bullfrogs; he went on to become a leading ichthyologist (zoologist who studies fish). Griffin, who was completing his Ph.D. at Harvard, did research on bat echolocation (he later became famous for that work). Marriage and family Odum and Martha Ann Huff, whom he had met as a student, married at her home in Wilmette, Illinois, on November 18, 1939. She continued her work as an artist. Odum was very proud of Martha's accomplishments as an artist. She often painted landscapes when traveling with her husband across the US and overseas. Martha Ann Odum joined her husband in Rensselaerville, where he continued to work at the Huyck Preserve. His research included studying chickadees and—more important for his future as an ecologist—inventorying the plants and preparing a habitat map. His purpose was to establish a basis for succession studies of the land so man could plan and manage ecosystems. He and Martha had two sons, William Eugene and Daniel Thomas Odum. Their son William died young, in his 40s, but had already