Recognising a legacy for the community – Royall Tyler Moore
23 April 2024
At the Microbiology Society, our vision is a world in which the science of microbiology provides maximum benefit to society. To achieve this, we need to do more to advance the understanding and impact of microbiology by connecting and empowering communities worldwide.
Our role is to provide a range of grants, events, activities and professional development to support people across our community who might, in turn, one day provide solutions to global challenges.
We are grateful to all members and microbiologists who support our work by leaving the Society a legacy or by donating to our Unlocking Potential Fund, which offers bespoke support to people facing a career challenge.
In 2023, the Society received a generous gift in his will from Royall Tyler Moore, a distinguished mycologist and philanthropist. He was born in Varna, New York in 1930 and passed away at the age of 83 in 2014. He worked from 1972 at Ulster University Coleraine, in Northern Ireland having been trained initially at Michigan State University and the University of Iowa, then obtained a PhD from Harvard. He did postdoctoral research at Cornell, and UC Berkeley and then went on to work at North Carolina State University. In addition to bequeathing money to the Microbiology Society, he also left money to support mycology students at Cornell where his mother and father also studied. At Coleraine he trained many mycologists and supported many initiatives in promulgating fungal biology and diversity.
Royall had a passion for science and art. He was fascinated by the huge diversity of the fungal kingdom and made many critical contributions to fungal systematics. He was a long-term editorial board member of the Mycologist and received the Benefactor’s Medal from the British Mycology Society. The money he left will enable the Microbiology Society to provide further support for microbiologists working on fungi.
Former Microbiology Society President, Professor Neil Gow, who worked with him on the Council of the British Mycological Society said: ”Royall T Moore’s passion for mycology is reflected in the way he has generously supported students and societies who take forward the art and science of myology. Through these gifts the importance of fungi in all aspects of biology and society can be given valuable support, perhaps creating a new generation of mycophiles of a similar passion and application.”
We are honoured Royall chose to support the Society to benefit the wider microbiology community – you can find out about leaving the Society a legacy or donating to Unlocking Potential or you can email [email protected] to talk to us about the Society’s fundraising activities.
