In Memoriam: Erin Stewart Lindquist, 1975-2019

Erin Lindquist, a professor of biological sciences at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, passed away on August 2, 2019. She was 43 years old and had suffered from cancer.

Dr. Lindquist first joined the Meredith College faculty in 2006. She taught courses on biology and environmental sustainability, coordinated the college’s environmental sustainability major and minor, facilitated significant grants, and directed numerous undergraduate research projects. Her research focused on forest ecology and conservation. She maintained a long-term tropical forest regeneration study in Costa Rica and co-authored Arboles Comunes de la Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco Costa Rica/Common Trees of Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve (InBio, 2007), a bilingual plant taxonomy book of the trees of her study area.

Dr. Lindquist co-founded the Ecological Research as Education Network, a National Science Foundation-funded national research network for faculty and students at primarily undergraduate institutions. She was co-lead scientist on the Permanent Forest Plot Project of the Ecological Research as Education Network.

“We watched Erin fight for days, weeks, months, and years to live her best life with her precious family, contribute to the learnings of her own students and others, and inspire us all to do the same,” said Meredith College President Jo Allen in an email tribute message to the Meredith community. “She was a warrior – strength personified – and we are humbled by her fierce dedication to all things she valued, knowing we were among those she cherished.”

Dr. Lindquist was a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University where she majored in biological sciences. She held a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Georgia.