Remembering Beloved Academy Botanist Ernie Schuyler

by Rick McCourt

Legendary. 

Not a word to be tossed around lightly, but one that applies to so much of Alfred E. (Ernie) Schuyler’s life and career at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Dr. Schuyler passed away peacefully on July 23 after a long, fruitful career as Curator of Botany at the Academy 

Ernie, as all his friends called him, was a legendary colleague, expert social organizer of Botany happy hours and holiday parties, mentor to young botanists (and a few old ones), organizer of the Academy Rollerblader group, teacher in Sunday school, colleges and public venues across Philadelphia and perhaps most importantly to him and all who loved and admired him, a legendary enthusiast about his favorite beverage, beer.  

Born in upstate New York in 1935, Ernie went to Colgate University, graduating in 1957. Six years later he received his PhD from the University of Michigan where he studied the systematics of plants, with a special focus on woolly bulrush, an aquatic plant native to the eastern United States. Ernie was recruited to the Academy of Natural Sciences to head up the Botany Department in 1962. He settled in and stayed until his retirement in 2000, after which he continued his role as the social glue of the cadre of botany curators, collection managers, students, and volunteers that made up his professional family. He once told us, “it was the only job I could ever have held and enjoyed at the same time,” he once recounted, “It was a good place for me.” The thing was he made it the only job he would ever need—collecting, identifying, surveying plants and the places they lived, describing new species, and imbuing students with a love for plants that lasted a lifetime.  

Ernie’s interests extended far beyond the plants themselves. He published not only on plant systematics but also on the history and art of botany. He collected medicinal plants with Nobel Prize winner in medicine Dr. Baruch Blumberg and lectured on the plant collections of the philosopher John Stuart Mill. He received many grants and contracts to study the flora of the northeast US and Canada and was awarded the 1991 Science Award from the Nature Conservancy for outstanding service to conservation. 

Ernie was ubiquitous in the Philadelphia botanical world. He was a research associate the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, served in virtually every office of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, worked with the local Lewis and Clark Trail Foundation group (he curated the several hundred plants collected by the explorers in 1804-06), and served on numerous advisory committees locally and nationally. His weekly Friday evening gatherings, known as Happy Hour at the Stamen and Pistil, were attended by staff from every department at the Academy and botanical afficionados beyond. Ernie’s annual Holiday Party drew several dozen staff members each December who enjoyed his jokes and gifts.  

Although teaching was not a formal part of a curator’s job, Ernie didn’t see it that way. He never stopped teaching, whether it be in the class or in the field, and taught classes at the University of Montana field station, Rutgers University, Millersville University, Swarthmore College, and Michigan State University. Ernie gave lectures on the botany of beer to overflowing audiences (in more ways than one) at the Science on Tap series in Philadelphia. His impact was summarized by a former Swarthmore student, Steven Froelich, who told of a botany class he took from Ernie at Swarthmore in 1978. Steven wrote to Ernie about a long-ago lesson on identifying a particular plant: 

“I went for a spring walk yesterday and saw (literally) millions of spring beauties.  And I heard a voice say, ‘Claytonia virginica, 2-5-5-3.  That’s a very unusual combination.  Turn it over; take a look.  See.  Only two sepals.’ That was your voice, sir, unless I am sadly mistaken…. I was not a biology major.  I was a philosophy major, and I was taking this course because we were required to take a certain number of science courses, and I really liked the idea that our “labs” would be walks in the woods…. But still, almost 50 years later, every time I go on a hike or a walk — and I try to do that quite frequently — I think about something that I learned in your class…. I could go on at some length recalling the lessons that I learned in that class, none more important than, “Be observant of the world around us.”  And, for that, I have been, and always will be, extremely grateful.”  

Steven Froelich went on to get a PhD in Philosophy and teach at Centre College in Kentucky. Another student in the class, Ann Shuchat, went on to get an MD from Dartmouth and was Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control during COVID. Botany beyond the classroom. 

Ernie is survived by his loving wife of more than 50 years, Pat Schuyler. She met him at the Academy and they married in 1968. Her degree in Biology served her well through the many field trips to what she recalls were wetlands, bogs and places that always seemed to be called “Mud Lake.” Together they worked on Philadelphia’s anti-drug and anti-violence programs, and as lifelong partners in a marriage with different religious backgrounds, they counseled engaged couples in the same situation for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.  

Ben Franklin reportedly said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Ernie certainly endorsed the thought, and those of us who knew him share the same feelings about our dear friend.