One Step at a Time ... A Tribute to William J. (Bill) Cody, 1922-2009

It is a typical day at the herbarium on the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa in the spring of 2008 and Bill is coming in the front door of the Saunders Building. “How are you feeling today, Bill?” “One step at a time,” he would say. He was tired after coming in for 62 years, but he never said so. He always just said, “one step at a time.” In fact, Bill was always optimistic, and he was always ready with a joke or a few words of a song. He was a dedicated and famous botanist and a very enthusiastic team member. Bill made the world a better place, and it was a very sad day when he passed away on Monday, 23 March 2009, following a stroke. Bill (Figure 1) actually retired from his job withAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in 1987 at 65 after 41 years of service, but he continued to come in and work every day as an honorary research associate until 2006, and then he came in twice a week until the spring of 2008, a total of 21 years of retirement service. Bill is widely known for his botanical work in the north and as curator of the largest collection of dried plants in Canada, and as Business Manager of The Canadian Field-Naturalist for nearly 60 years. Many have heard his name in connection with the awards that he earned. These include Honorary Member of the Ottawa Field-Naturalist Club in 1979, the prestigious Canadian Botanical Association Lawson Medal in 1997,aQueen’sGolden JubileeCommemorativeMedal in 2002, the Yukon Biodiversity Awareness Award in 2006, the Richards Education Award, a Distinguished Technical Communications Award, an honorary doctoral degree from McMaster University, and various service awards. For many years into the future, people will want to know more about Bill and to trace his work. Here we have encapsulated a lifetime in several pages. Bill’s story is a very interesting one that relates to major historical events and important times in Canada, but it is also informative and inspiring because it demonstrates how a single person can make a huge difference. There are three lists of references at the end of this document. The first is the Literature Cited, where Bill is not an author. The second list is of Bill’s research publications (Appendix 1). Where any of these are cited in the text, their appearance is indicated by an asterisk (*). The third list includes Bill’s miscellaneous publications (Appendix 2). Few of these are cited but where they are, they are followed by two asterisks (**). Over the years and after his death, a number of articles (all in the Literature Cited) were written about Bill, including Taylor (1969), Anonymous (1980), Cook (1987), Catling (1991), Pope (1997), Darbyshire (1998), Darbyshire and Taylor (1999), Anonymous (2003), Catling (2003), Anonymous (2004a,b), Benner (2005), Anonymous (2007, 2008), Bennett and Catling (2009), Catling (2009), Catling et al. (2009a), Cayouette (2009), McLachlan Hamilton (2010), Pope (2010) and Cook (2010).