Professor Jane Gray, Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, died January 9, 2000 of cancer. She was born in Nebraska on April 19, 1929 to Muriel Barrett Gray and Col. Earnest Gray, a West Point Graduate. Jane Gray received her B.S. degree from Radcliffe College in 1951 and her Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1958. Her dissertation dealt with fossil pollen and spores of the Miocene in eastern Oregon. She served as an instructor in the Department of Geology, University of Texas, Austin, for several years until marrying a fellow professor in the Biology Department, which automatically lead to her dismissal owing to nepotism rules in force at that time. Following this, she held a position in the Desert Research Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson for several years, where she continued her work on Tertiary pollen and spores. She then moved to the Museum of Natural History, University of Oregon, Eugene. Subsequently, she joined the Department of Biology at the University of Oregon where she served until her death. She taught both undergraduate students and graduate students in biology, geology, geography, and anthropology.

Her research career, supported in large part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Whitehall Foundation, included a number of outstanding discoveries. Her work on the early evolution of land plants showed that higher land plants first appeared in the Middle Ordovician 40 million years earlier than had been previously thought. This discovery, which faced great opposition, is widely accepted today and used in many textbooks. Her masterful book-length monograph on nonmarine paleocology is widely used as a synthesis of what was known in this area up through 1988.

At the time of her death, she was investigating the nature of atmospheric carbon dioxide present since the Cambrian. Her compilation and correlation of a massive amount of botanical and geologic data which will substantively revise previous estimates. This work will be completed by her colleagues. She was also working on a groundbreaking account of the evidence for a widespread Precambrian nonmarine biota, chiefly at the bacterial level.

She taught and mentored many students who found her work and ideas highly original. Her enthusiasm encouraged many to forge ahead in their respective areas. Her death deprives the scientific community of a highly original, innovative worker who undoubtedly would have provided even more significant contributions had time permitted. She will be sorely missed by many colleagues, students, and friends.

Dr. Gray was devoted to animal rights and welfare. Memorial contributions may be made to Greenhill Humane Society. There will be no memorial service at her request.

This obituary was retyped from copy provided by her family and close friends. 
Web page spun on 10 January 2000 by Peter B Gilkey 202 Deady Hall, Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1222, U.S.A. Phone 1-541-346-4717 Email:peter.gilkey.cc.67@aya.yale.edu of Deady Spider Enterprises