The Reverend Donald Dungan Dod (October 10, 1912, Kansas City, Missouri – April 1, 2008, West Virginia), was an American missionary and orchidologist.
Life
He went to Long Beach Junior College and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Chemistry. After a stint in the oil industry he entered San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, CA, where he met his future wife, Annabelle Jean Stockton (aka Tudy). They graduated with a master's degree in Divinity and a Master in Christian Education respectively.
In 1946 the Dods established a Presbyterian ministry in El Guacio in western Puerto Rico, which included among many other activities, a health clinic, a social work program and public health efforts. During their 17-year stay in Puerto Rico, they “became enamored of the flora and fauna of Puerto Rico”. While Tudy became interested in birds, Donald became an extremely well versed amateur orchidologist, having discovered well over fifty new orchid species and (having taught himself the rudiments of botanical Latin) described many of them himself.
They moved to the Dominican Republic in 1964 and remained there until his retirement in 1988. Continuing his varied activities as minister and social worker, Donald Dod became instrumental, among other causes, in the establishment of the Santo Domingo Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Natural History there, and in the creation of natural reserves on the island.
Donald Dod was a research associate at the Department of Botany, of the University of California, Berkeley.
Honors
The Dods were made Caballeros de Colón, the highest civilian award of the Dominican Republic.
Named after him is the Parque Nacional Donald Dod, as well as the orchids
- Epidendrum dodii L.Sánchez & Hágsater
- Lepanthopsis dodii Garay
- Psychilis dodii Sauleda
- Schiedeella dodii Burns-Bal.
- Specklinia dodii (Garay) Luer
- Lepanthes dodiana W.R.Stimson
- Trigonochilum dodianum (Ackerman & Chiron) Königer
and named after Annabelle Dod
- Epidendrum annabellae Nir
- Lepanthes tudiana Dod
- Psychilis × tudiana Dod
Publications
by D. Dod
- DOD, D.D. 1976 Orquideas Dominicanas nuevas 1. Moscosoa 1:50–54.
- DOD, D.D. 1971 Orquideas Dominicanas nuevas. Moscosoa 1:39–54.
- DOD, D.D. 1978 Orquideas dominicanas nuevas 3. Moscosoa 1:49–63.
- DOD, D.D. 1983 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniola y otras notas 4. Moscosoa 2:2–18.
- DOD, D.D. 1984 Quisqueya: a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola 1. Bol. Soc. Dominicana de Orquideologia. 2:40–52.
- DOD, D.D. 1984 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniolla y otras notas 5. Moscosoa 3:100–120.
- DOD, D.D. 1984 Quisqueya: a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola 2. Bol. Soc. Dominicana de Orquideologia. 3:16–30.
- DOD, D.D. 1986 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas à la ciencia, endemicas en la Hispaniola. Moscosoa 4:133–187.
- DOD, D.D. 1993 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniola y otras notas 8. Moscosoa 7:153–155.
- DOD, D.D. 1993 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) nuevas para la ciencia, endemicas de la Espaniola. 3. Moscosoa 7:157–165.
- DOD, D.D. 1993 El genero Epidendrum (Orchidaceae) de la Espaniola: Introduccion y clave. 3. Moscosoa 7:167–170.
- HESPENHEIDE, H.A. & D.D. DOD 1990 El genero Lepanthes (Orchidaceae) de la Española 2. Moscosoa 6:167–195
by A. S. Dod
- Annabelle S Dod Endangered and endemic birds of the Dominican Republic. Cypress House, Fort Bragg, CA.1992.:
- Annabelle S Dod Guía de campo para las aves de la República Dominicana Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 2002. Santo Domingo, R. D.
- Annabelle S Dod; José Osorio; Laura Rathe de Cambiaso Aves de la República Dominicana. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 1978. Santo Domingo, R. D.