Daniel Elliot Stuntz

During his teaching process, Stuntz would collect almost every group of fungi he could find and try to identify it. He would write his own keys to his collections and a few of them were eventually published. One of his important publications was a book named How to identify mushrooms to Genus IV: keys to families and Genera, published in 1977. (Stuntz 1977) During his last several years, he developed an interest in the resupinate, nonporoid Aphyllophorales and enrolled several students working on those. (Libonati-Barnes 1981) Throughout his professional career, he had served as mentor for 39 graduate students and published 40 papers.

One of the most noticeable gifts of Stuntz was his teaching ability. He could efficiently deliver the scientific information to a wide variety of people: from the mycological researchers to the amateurs. His lecture was described as well organized, beautifully illustrated, and appropriately-paced. In 1951, His evaluation was ranked fourth among all of the teachers in the University of Washington. In 1974, he received the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award, which indicated the recognition to him by the public.(Information from winners of UW's distinguished teaching awards)

In 1940, after he finished his doctoral degree from Yale, he was hired as an instructor at the University of Washington. He retained this title until 1945 when he was promoted as an assistant professor and, later, in 1950 he became an associate professor. In 1958, he became a professor in the botany department and kept this title until he retired. At the beginning of his professional journey as a fungal taxonomist, he collected almost every agaric he could find. Later, due to teaching commitments, his collection was mainly limited to Pluteus, Hebeloma and Inocybe. Eventually, he spent all his efforts concentrating on Inocybe classification.

After he finished his bachelor's degree study, he began his master's degree with Dr. Hotson while working on Inocybe. (Stuntz and Hotson 1938) He did not finish his master's degree; instead, he went to Yale University for his doctoral degree. His transfer was encouraged by Professor T. C. Frye, who viewed Stuntz as a potential replacement of Dr. Hotson, whose health was becoming problematic. Amazingly, John S. Boyce accepted Stuntz as a student and allowed him continue to do Inocybe research, which is not Dr. Boyce's expertise. Stunz finished his doctoral degree at Yale in 1940.

The earliest record of Stuntz's research activities can be traced back to March 30, 1934, when he was a junior in college. By that time, he began to collect, photograph and describe agarics as well as other fungi. Later, Stuntz was influenced by Dr. Hotson to begin working on the agaric taxonomy. In addition, Alexander H. Smith was another person who had a great impact on Daniel's choice of profession. They met each other on the Olympic Mountains during collections and after that, they began a long friendship. Alex kept encouraging Stuntz to continue his work on Inocybe and other agaric genera, which laid the fundamental basis for Stuntz's taxonomy works in the future. Stuntz kept working on Inocybe during his master's and doctoral degree.

Stuntz was born in Milford, Ohio, United States. Before he went to college, he studied in Queen Anne High School, Seattle. In autumn 1931, he enrolled at the University of Washington and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1935. Stuntz began his undergraduate study as a forestry major. After taking a general mycology course offered by J. W. Hotson in the botany department, he developed an interest in fungi. Hence, he decided to change his major to Botany.

Daniel Elliot Stuntz (March 15, 1909 - March 5, 1983) was often called "Bud" by his family and colleagues. When Stuntz was young, his immediate and extended family moved from Ohio to Seattle. He had a sister named Alice Stuntz Marionneaux, whom he frequently visited in the later years. Stuntz's father, Chauncey Richards Stuntz, who worked in the sugarcane business, would be absent to work for most of the time. In 1920s, he was promoted as the general manager of a sugar mill, 'Jobabo' in Oriente Province in Cuba. During his father's absence, Stuntz' mother, Evelyn Elliot Stuntz, managed the family and arranged the children's summer vacations.