Emelio Pepe Michael Meinecke

Biographical Sketch, by Hany Abdoun, Archives Intern

Emilio Pepe Michael Meinecke was born on July 26, 1869 in Alameda, California. The son of Charles Meinecke, the German Consul General in San Francisco, Emilio Meinecke returned to Germany and attended the Universities of Freiburg, Leipzig, and Bonn.

In 1893, he completed a Ph.D. degree at Heidelberg with a dissertation on aerial roots in the Orchid family. In 1893, Dr. Meinecke remained an assistant in the Botanical Institute at Heidelberg. While at Heidelberg, Dr. Meinecke became interested in wine yeast and moved to Hansen's Laboratory in Copenhagen in 1895. In 1907, he accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Botany at the University de La Plata in Argentina until his return to California in 1909. In 1910 he was appointed to the Division of Forest Pathology Bureau of Plant Industry at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was assigned as consulting pathologist for District 5 of the U.S. Forest Service, with headquarters in San Francisco. In 1928 he became consulting Pathologist for the National Park Service.

He became member to the California Academy of Sciences in 1913 and Fellow in 1929. He served as the Academy's Corresponding Secretary from 1932 to 1937. From 1937 to 1944 he served as the Academy's second Vice President and from 1945 to 1946, he served as its First Vice President. Amongst his writings: Forest Tree Diseases Common in California and Nevada, a field manual published in 1914; Forest Pathology in Forest Regulation, a bulletin that appeared in 1916; Die Hefe, a manual about wine yeast was written by Dr. Meinecke along with Edmond Kayser in 1898.

Dr. Meinecke, a leading authority on plant disease and forestry, died on February 10, 1957 at Notre Dame Hospital. In addition to his scientific talents, Dr. Meinecke was said to be an excellent cook, gardener, painter, figure skater and skier. He also had an excellent command of English, German, French, Spanish, and Danish .

Sources Consulted:

Phytopathology, Volume 47, No. 11, 633-634, November 1957.

San Francisco Examiner, February 10, 1957.