AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 24(1): p. 21-22, 2001.

In Memoriam
Gamal El Ghazaly

Gamal El Ghazaly died, following brief but painful illness, on the 13th of January, 2001. He was 53.

Gamal was born in Alexandria, Egypt on the 17th of June, 1947. In 1969 he obtained a B.Sc in Botany and Chemistry at the University of Alexandria. He became a demonstrator at the university and, in 1974, he obtained his M.Sc. at the University of Alexandria for his thesis entitle: "Palynological studies in Nubia sandstone from Kharga Oasis". This led to his appointment as an assistant lecturer in the Department of Botany, a position he held until 1979, when he obtained his PhD from the University of Stockholm for a study entitled: "Palynology of Hypochoeridineae and Scolyminae (Compositae)." His fascination with pollen was established. In 1980 he accepted a Lectureship in the Department of Botany at the University of Alexandria and, in 1982 he was awarded the University of Alexandria Prize for Scientific Activities. He took a postgraduate Scholarship in the Department of Botany at the University of Berkeley, California, and USA. From 1983 until 1988 he was an Assistant Professor in the Botany Department at the University of Alexandria being seconded, however, to the University of Qatar in 1984, where he remained until 1989, becoming Acting Dean of Faculty of Science in that year. In 1988 he was awarded the "State prize in Biological Science", and the "First rank Medal in Science and Arts" and in 1989 the "University of Qatar Scientific Symbol".

During 1989 Gamal accepted the post of Curator of the Palynological Laboratory, at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, a post that he held for ten years. During this period he obtained his D SC (Docent) in systematic Botany, from the University of Stockholm. He also took Swedish citizenship. Following Prof. Siwert Nilsson's retirement in 1998 Gamal became Director of the Palynological Laboratory, at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. He took up Editorship of the World Pollen and Spore Flora in 1989, and the next year became an Editor of Grana. In 1998 he became Editor-in-Chief of Grana, a job which he has carried out with great skill and diplomacy.

Within the field of plant taxonomy and palynology Gamal's interests were wide: pollen morphology, palaeopalynology, pollen ontogeny, and aeropalynology in particular. During the 1980's Gamal was actively involved in planning academic programmes, teaching at all university levels, and adult teacher training for the Egyptian Ministry of Education. Author or co-author of more than 66 publications, he will perhaps be best remembered for his beautiful papers on pollen development and ontogeny, and pollen orbicules. Gamal has had much successful international collaboration, as well as numerous collaborations with his Egyptian colleagues. His rich collaborations with S.I. Saad, John Rowley and William Jensen, Siwert Nilsson and, most recently with one of his previous PhD students Suzy Huysmans, deserve special mention. Most recently his co-edited volume: Plant Systematics for the 2lst Century has been published. A collection of invited papers given at a conference at the Wenner-Gren Center, organised by Gamal and his botanical colleague, Bertil Nordenstam, in Stockholm in 1998, to celebrate the births of Vivi Täckholm and Gunnar Erdtman.

Gamal travelled widely, for study visits, to present lectures, to run courses, and to attend numerous national and international workshops, symposia and conferences including the 5th, 6th and 7th IPC Congresses.

Gamal el Ghazaly was not only an excellent scientist, he was a fine person, gentle, wise, deeply intelligent, thoughtful and a natural diplomat. His warm responsive smile and the feeling that he was genuinely interested in what one had to say will be deeply missed by his colleagues.

Gamal leaves his wife, Polixeni and their three sons: Amr, born in 1981, and the twins, Tarek and Samy, born in 1983. [A full list of Gamal's publications will appear in an appreciation of Gamal's life and work in Grana later this year.]

Anick Le Thomas and Madeline Harley

IAA Newsletter 54-55: p. 1, 2001.

In Memoriam
Gamal El-Ghazaly

On January 12, 2001 the international scientific community of aerobiologists lost one of the internationally respected palynologists with the death of Gamal El-Ghazaly, the director of the Palynological Laboratory of Swedish museum of Natural History at Stockholm. He was a long way from his native country Egypt, where he was born in Alexandria on June 17, 1947. He got all his academic degrees with Palynological studies in Alexandria, his PhD under the guide of Siwert Nilsson at the University of Stockholm, 1979, with a thesis entitled "Palynology of Hypochoeridineae and Scolymineae (Compositae)". After completion of his thesis he had 1982/83 a 18 months fellowship to work with William Jensen, at the University of California, Berkeley, and studied wheat pollen development especially the formation of microchannels in the exine. He deepened his basic knowledge of plant taxonomy and palynology, which resulted in an appointment for Assistant Professor (1983-1988) at the University of Alexandria, and for Chairman at the Department of Botany of the University of Qatar in 1988, at which he also served in the summer terms as Acting Dean of the Faculty of Science.

Becoming the first Curator of the famous Palynological laboratory at Stockholm since 1989 he came back to Sweden, and gained the Swedish nationality.

Besides numerous teaching assignments he became editor of the World Pollen and Spore Flora, and since 1998 Editor-in-Chief of "Grana", the recognized international Journal of Palynology.

El-Ghazaly considered palynology as a basic science in the field of botany. But already early, in 1984, he recognized the applied aspects of palynology in aerobiology, with investigations on the comparison between different pollen traps and data of different stations of observation, and the changes of the atmospheric pollen concentration in the Stockholm area. With studies on airborne pollen grains and fungal spores, and the pollen calendar of Alexandria he entered the international community" of aerobiologists.

Especially the structure and function of the enigmatic sporopollenin particles and the ubisch bodies attract his attention. It was the localization and the release of allergens from the tapetum and the pollen grains into the atmosphere, which he worked on collaboration with our laboratory, where he was a respected guest and collaborator, and which confirmed his position among aerobiologists.

Aeropalynology for people working in allergy-services was a field of his special interests as well as teaching activities in national and international courses in plant anatomy, plant taxonomy, melissopalynology.

El-Ghazaly was a great traveler He visited many international institutions, attended numerous symposia and conferences all over the world. He gave many invited, opening and plenary lectures. He was also the organizer of the Vivi Tackolm Jubilee Symposium (1997) on biodiversity in flowering plants in Egypt, and of the International Symposium on "Plant Systematics for the 21th Century" in commemoration of the centenary of Vivi Tackolm and unforgettable Gunnar Erdtman at the Wenner- Green-Stifelsen at Stockholm in 1998

Many of the M.Sc. and PhD theses, which El-Ghazaly supervised, concerned aero-biological studies and pollen germination and pollen tube elongation as bioassays for tracking industrial pollution. His list of publications comprises 73 papers, published together with various different co-authors in Swede, Egypt, Qatar, Japan, America and Italy; many of them contribute to the aerobiology of pollen grains and the ecological problems of pollen allergy. His most recent research activities concerned the ontogeny of pollen grains and tapetum, floral micromorphology in relation to taxonomy and phylogeny, male sterility, airborne distribution of pollen grains, as well as the localization and the release of allergens from pollen of Poaceae and Fagaceae.

The untimely death of Gamal El- Ghazaly is a great lost for the applied aspects of aeropalynology and aerobiology, because his approach was based on a solid knowledge of plant taxonomy, the submicroscopical structure of pollen walls, and the development biology of pollen grains.

Mauro Cresti,
University of Siena, Italy