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Roger Alfred Morse: Scholar, Expert on Bees

Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
Sunday, May 28, 2000

Roger Alfred Morse, 72, who turned a childhood interest in beekeeping into
an encyclopedic knowledge that made him a highly regarded apiculturist. An
entomology professor at Cornell University for more than 40 years, Morse was
also a prolific author. His "The Complete Guide to Beekeeping" is one of the
definitive works on the subject. He was born in Saugerties, N.Y. Morse's
father, a superintendent of schools, kept bees as a hobby and instilled an
interest in his son, who began keeping hives at age 10. Morse enrolled at
Cornell University after serving in the Army during and after World War II.
He received his bachelor's degree and doctorate from the school
before joining the faculty. He become chairman of the entomology
department in 1986. Morse also traveled extensively, often under the
sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, teaching
beekeepers in Africa, South America and the Philippines how to
improve their craft. In reporting his death, the New York Times noted that
Morse was not impervious to bee stings. His daughter Susan said that four
days before his death, Morse returned home sporting the evidence of another
encounter with a bee. "He died with a little bee sting on his eye," she
said. On May 12 at his home in Ithaca, N.Y.