Letter from the Director, December 2011

The William B.N. Berry Memorial Research Fund

In honor of the life and contributions of Bill Berry, we are delighted to announce the establishment of the William B.N. Berry Memorial Research Fund. In close consultation with Bill's widow, Suzanne (Sue) Berry, the endowment has been established to support graduate students in the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Specifically, funds will be used for field work in invertebrate paleontology and the various operations pertinent to the preparation and study of specimens collected. The Fund will be administered by the Museum of Paleontology and is open to men and women, regardless of race, creed or national origin. Recipients shall be Berkeley graduate students who demonstrate high academic distinction. On behalf of the entire UCMP community, a very special thanks to the donors who made the endowment possible. Donors included several of Bill's past students, faculty and colleagues outside of Berkeley, and Berkeley faculty in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Integrative Biology, and UCMP as well as several emeriti/ae. We are also grateful to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the University administration for their willingness to grant permission to transfer Bill's unused research funds derived from his teaching of Freshman Seminars to the endowment — this greatly accelerated the time it took to reach the minimum amount required to establish the endowment.

We expect to make the first award from the endowment in 2012, and UCMP will supplement the payout from the endowment until it grows sufficiently in value that it can fully support a graduate student field season. For those of you who would like contribute, please print and fill out this form and mail it to UCMP. Please make checks payable to "The William B.N. Berry Memorial Research Fund."

Sincerely,
Charles Marshall
Director, UCMP