ADELE A. CROWDER

January 14, 1926 - January 28, 2026 Professor Emerita, Queen's University Adele Crowder celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends two weeks ago. As the well-loved matriarch of an expanding clan, she delighted in her six great grand-children (aged six to 6 months). She died peacefully on January 28th soon after a stroke. Born in Dublin, Adele was a graduate of Trinity College where her Ph.D. work established her as a paleo-ecologist. While at The Queen's University, Belfast (1953 - 1966), she worked with newly discovered carbon-14 dating to establish evidence of early agriculture in peat cores from Irish bogs. Her parallel work on Drosera (Sundew) appeared in the British Journal of Ecology. Her two small daughters accompanied her on many bog expeditions. While pregnant with her third child, she took particular satisfaction in making aerial surveys of her research sites; she was the only member of her department who did not get airsick. Moving to Canada in 1966, she became a professor in the Biology Department at Queen's University, Kingston. She headed the Fowler Herbarium and pioneered courses in ecology, then a newly emerging field. Her work on sedimentary metals in wetlands reclamation in the Great Lakes and in Sudbury re-greening engaged her in building public policy. Over 30 years, her research teams reflected her own commitment to human wellbeing. Together they published over 80 papers. She was an energetic, and sometimes ruthless, advocate for conservancy of wild spaces and for maintaining the vigour of soil and plant life in the face of human activity. Recently, she found it deeply satisfying that her most frequent citations are for her chapters in The Environmental Effects of Mining. Married in 1951, she shared nearly 60 years with Christopher Crowder. Together they particularly enjoyed summers in Ledenon and the work and bounty of their farm garden. Lifelong, she combined a love of family, a joy in her garden, and a fierce commitment to her ongoing work. Donations to the Nature Conservancy of Canada will be very much appreciated. Family and friends are invited to the Wartman Funeral Home - Kingston for a service of remembrance and celebration of Adele's life on Friday, February 6, 2026 at 11a.m., a reception will follow the service. Interment will take place at St. Luke's Cemetery in Camden East. For those unable to join us in person, please join us via zoom by clicking the webcast video on her memorial page. Condolences can be forwarded online through wartmanfuneralhomes.com.