• Znine
• Campus Calendar
• My Mav
• UTA Radio
• UTA Home
• Student Email
• Libraries
• Wikipedia

• Local Forecast
• Movie Listings
• Traffic Info
• TV Listings

July 26, 2007

Faculty/Staff

Memorial service for former chair held

William F. Pyburn is remembered as a devoted scientist, teacher and artist.

Story by: Ray Edward Buffington IV

The Shorthorn staff

Courtesy art

A memorial service will be held for former biology chair William F. Pyburn, who came to the university in 1957. His work eventually contributed to the university’s first herpetology collection.

A memorial service will be held for former biology chair Dr. William F. Pyburn at 2 p.m. Friday in the Central Library sixth floor parlor.

The event for faculty and students to remember the man who Honors College Dean Robert McMahon said was a “great scientist and a great teacher.”

Pyburn, who passed away in May at age 80, began working for the university in 1957. He quickly worked his way up the Biology Department ladder and took on the role as biology chair.

McMahon said he first met Pyburn when he joined the biology department in 1972. As a young associate professor, McMahon was impressed by Pyburn’s passion for his field.

“He was best known by the faculty for his research because research in general was not as stressed by the university back then as it is now,” McMahon said. “In some ways, he was a role model for me to develop my own research program.”

Biology chair Jonathan Campbell said Pyburn’s research took him to exotic locations, such as the Mexican and Colombian jungles, to find rare specimens of amphibians and reptiles. His work eventually contributed to the university’s first herpetology collection.

McMahon recalled how different Pyburn was in the field, something he witnessed during a field trip to East Texas, where Pyburn had taken students to locate rare finds. During the excursion, one of the students heard a frog high in a tree above them.

“Without even blinking an eye, Dr. Pyburn shimmied up the tree to see what it was,” McMahon said. “To this day, I am amazed how quickly he got up that tree, being not as athletic as he was when he was younger.”

McMahon also remembered Pyburn’s bravery when it came to handling dangerous specimens.

“I’ve seen him catch a water moccasin behind it’s head in mid-strike,” McMahon said. “He could be fast when he wanted to be.”

Campbell said Pyburn’s favorite hobby was painting.

“He was a fabulous artist,” Campbell said. “He particularly liked to paint birds.”

McMahon owns a piece of Pyburn’s artwork and said it has personal significance.

“My wife is from Ireland, and when she first came here, she was amazed by cardinals because they don’t have red birds [in Ireland],” he said. “I asked him to paint a pair of cardinals for us, and he did. It is something we will always treasure.”

Pyburn retired in 1982 but kept up his favorite pastime of painting until Parkinson’s disease wouldn’t allow him to keep a steady hand anymore.

Campbell said Pyburn will always be remembered in the Biology Department.

“I remember him as being a very patient, compassionate person with a great deal of enthusiasm and a love for what he studied... and I remember him for his keen intellect,” Campbell said. “I think he ... made the Biology Department what it is today.”

Lori Norris, science special programs coordinator, said musicians will be at the service to perform some of Pyburn’s favorite big-band songs.