Nigel Hepper was a botanist at Kew specialising in Africa. He will be known to members of this list through his work on ancient Egyptian plant remains, and was notably generous in sharing his botanical expertise.

 

His book “Pharaoh’s Flowers” is a reliable and readable introduction to the subject, recently expanded and reprinted (KWS Publishers, 2009). He carried on writing and working at Kew until very recently.

 

Mark

 

[NB – if replying to this message be sure to delete [log in to unmask] unless you want the message to go to everyone!]

 

Sent: 16 May 2013 11:09
Subject: [HLAA Staff] Nigel Hepper 1929-2013

 

We have just received the very sad news that Nigel Hepper passed away last night.  Nigel was a former Assistant Keeper in the Herbarium until his retirement in the late 1980s. Among his many achievements he was Editor of the Flora of West Tropical Africa and President of the Kew Guild. For several decades he made daily phenological observations in the Gardens, building up a remarkable database which has great contemporary relevance in relation to climate change. His strong Christian belief, combined with an interest in arcaheobotany, resulted in number of publications about plants of the bible lands.

 

Nigel continued to be a regular visitor to the Gardens and herbarium, and he will be much missed.