Obituaries

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A memorial service is planned in the spring for Audrey Harkness O'Connor, the herb gardener and former editor of Cornell Plantations magazine who died Dec. 29 in Ithaca at age 85.

Growing up on a small farm in Moravia, N.Y., O'Connor worked her way through Cornell to earn a B.S. in horticulture in 1935. She began working for the College of Agriculture as an illustrator in 1940, while cultivating a lifelong fascination with herbs and a determination to share her interest with others. In 1958 O'Connor was named editor of Cornell Plantations' journal, continuing in that post until her retirement in 1980.

Together with Richard M. Lewis Sr., the former Plantations director who died last Nov. 21, O'Connor designed an installation that became the centerpiece of the university's botanical collection, the Robison York State Herb Garden. Envisioning plantings that, in her words, "would illustrate anew that combination of beauty and use that gives meaning to the Plantations," O'Connor devised a garden to teach the heritage and utility of herbs.

The more than 400 varieties in Cornell's most pinchable, sniffable garden are arranged in theme beds, such as Herbs of the Ancients, Sacred Herbs, Savory Seed Herbs, Economic Herbs and Herbs in Literature. O'Connor contributed, from her home garden, many of the original specimens and was the Cornell Plantations' first curator of herbs. An inscription at the garden, located since 1972 outside the Lewis Plantations Headquarters Building, perpetuates her sentiment: "The herb becomes the teacher."

Retirement to her gardens in Sapsucker Woods allowed O'Connor to expand the network of plant-loving friends, according to the current herb gardener at Cornell Plantations, Diane Miske. "She embraced the novice and felt special joy in welcoming young students with budding interests in plants into her circle," Miske said.

O'Connor's enthusiastic efforts as a teacher, writer and popular guest speaker were honored with the 1980 Medal of Honor of the Herb Society of America and in the establishment of the Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lectures, a series that is now in its 12th year. Memorial donations may be made to the Cornell Plantations-O'Connor Lectures and sent to One Plantations Road, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853.

The memorial service, planned for Saturday, June 17, from 10 to 11 a.m. in Sage Chapel, will be followed by a reception at Cornell Plantations.

Walter Galenson, Cornell professor emeritus, an internationally acclaimed labor economist and expert on trade unionism, comparative labor movements and economic growth died Dec. 30, 1999, in Washington, D.C.

Galenson, who joined the Cornell faculty as a full professor in 1966, was the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor from 1976 until his retirement in 1990, when he was named professor emeritus. He also was the principal economist with the U.S. War Department in 1942-43, principal economist with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services in 1943-44 and labor attaché with U.S. embassies in Oslo and Copenhagen in 1945-46.

Galenson earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1940 and taught economics at Harvard University (1946-51) and the University of California at Berkeley (1951-66) before joining the faculty of Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He was among the group of academic stars who left Berkeley in the wake of student unrest of that period.

He was the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University in England (1970-71), the first nonhistorian to hold the post. He also was a Guggenheim (1955) and a Fulbright (1950-51) fellow.

During his long career, he wrote or co-wrote 20 books and edited eight. His first, Rival Unionism in the United States (American Council on Public Affairs), was published in 1940 and republished in 1966. His most recent, The World's Strongest Trade Unions: The Scandinavian Labor Movement (Quorum Books), was published in 1998.

He is well-known for his scholarship on trade unionism and economic growth in Scandinavia and also was knowledgeable about the Asian economic picture. A promoter of rapid growth in the developing world, he directed a large project on the Chinese economy, financed by the Ford Foundation, and was the editor of China's Economic Reform (The 1990 Institute, 1993). His last article, on the Taiwan labor market, was published in 1999.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Marjorie, a Cornell professor emerita; three children, Emily Schneider of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Alice Galenson of Chevy Chase, Md., and David Galenson of Chicago; a sister, Ellen Galenson of New York; and three grandchildren.