Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy 123

298 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man
I have several times come to California to admire in his company and under his
guidance the flowering of the desert for which California is so famous. Moore,
all his life, has fought for the proper recognition of organismic biology, and more
particularly zoology. He is most interested in education—he was the main author of
the so-called Yellow Version (by far the most successful one) of the BCC textbooks
of biology and later on of the book series Science as a Way of Knowing. Whatis
perhaps most outstanding about Moore is his wonderful sense of humor. When
I am with him we never stop fooling with each other. His wife, Betty, has always
been a splendid friend also, and a close friend indeed of Gretel. I am most grateful
that I have had the great fortune to acquire such a wonderful friend.”
Mayr continued an active correspondence with E. Stresemann and B. Rensch in
Germany until they died in 1972 and 1990, respectively. He saw them after World
War II repeatedly at congresses, when they visited North America or when he
came to Europe (Fig. 9.2). Mayr also followed several invitations to participate in
symposia or to lecture at various society meetings in Germany (Fig. 9.3). Several
younger people among his PhD students and the scientific community at large
became his friends in later years, when he grew older and his earlier friends had
passed away. He also maintained very friendly relations with the Department of
Ornithology of the AMNH (p. 255) and the 60th anniversary of his arrival in New
York was celebrated with a reception (Fig. 9.4).
Late in the 1990s, a somewhat younger resident of the Carleton-Willard retirement
home, the physicist Joe Lemon, lost his wife and became depressive.
Fig.9.2. Ernst Mayr (left) and Bernhard Rensch in Münster, Germany, 1975 (reproduced
from Rensch 1979)