S.W. Witmer Endowment Fund for Biological Sciences

S.W. Witmer was born in 1888 in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. He received a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College in 1914, a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1915, and a Ph.D. degree in 1935 from Indiana University. He taught biology at Goshen College from 1915 to 1966 and served as weather observer for the U.S. Weather Service from 1915 to 1969.

Discovery was one of Dr. Witmer’s greatest joys. He explored nature very enthusiastically in a scholarly and organized manner. He was also an accomplished linguist and a poet. In 1944, Dr. Witmer discovered one of the rarest plants in Indiana, the Kankakee Mallow, growing along a railroad near Goshen. In 1982, because of his discovery, the railroad leased an area along the tracks to the Indiana Nature Conservancy in order to protect the rare plants.

Witmer Woods was acquired by Goshen College in 1941 to be used as a natural recreation area. Dr. Witmer and his students transplanted trees and shrubs to create an arboretum. This valuable resource and learning tool is a fitting tribute to one who contributed so much to identifying and preserving plant life.

During retirement, Dr. Witmer pursued his intense interest in plant identification. He identified trees, shrubs and vines for the Elkhart County Park Board at Ox Bow Park and at Parson’s Swamp Woods. Witmer Trace, a 1.1 mile self-guided nature trail at Ox Bow was named in his honor. After an active life well into his nineties, Dr. Witmer died in 1990 at the age of 101.

The tradition of discovery developed by Dr. Witmer at Goshen College has been continued in the biology department by subsequent generations of faculty and students.