Peter Stafford (1961-2009)
A message from Dr Johannes Vogel, Keeper of Botany
It is with profound regret that I report the death of Dr Peter Stafford. With his untimely passing we have lost a dear friend, great curator and world-renowned herpetologist and palynologist.
Peter joined the Department of Botany in 1983 as an assistant curator in the British Herbarium before becoming a research assistant in balneology and, later, a curator of flowering plants. Working with Steve Blackmore, he published extensively on the Northwest European Pollen Flora series while simultaneously building his reputation as a herpetologist. Some 20 palynological and more than 30 herpetological publications, in addition to six books, are to his name and credit.
Peter was a very hard working scientist who used his training and skill to further both curation and collections in botany and discovery and conservation in herpetology. He was a great fieldworker and supportive colleague, here at the Museum and on many expeditions, especially in Central America. In the 1990s he was closely involved in the building and running of the Natural History Museum’s field station in Belize, Las Cuevas. Peter was an accomplished photographer and meticulous microscopist, again combining his scientific interests with real passion for the object of study.
Peter served as an scientific co-editor of the Northwest European Pollen Flora from 1997 onwards and was editor of the Herpetological Bulletin (British Herpetological Society) from 2000–2009.
Peter completed a MSc in Biodiversity Conservation at the Durrell Institute at Kent University in Canterbury in 2003 and a PhD at the School of Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford in 2006 on Taxonomic and ecological studies on Middle American snakes; a selection of colubrid genera.
Our sympathies go to his family, and in particular his wife Marian and their daughter Anna.