Storrs Lovejoy Olson

Storrs Lovejoy Olson

Storrs Lovejoy Olson, 76, died peacefully on January 20, 2020 in Fredericksburg.

Storrs was an internationally renowned biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at The National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, as Senior Scientist and Curator of Birds. Although he retired in 2008 he held the position of Curator Emeritus, continuing to publish scientific papers adding to a tally of almost 400 publications.

He was a proud graduate of Florida State University, B.A. and M.S. and was awarded his Sc.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1972.

Storrs was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of physical oceanographer Dr. Franklyn C.W. Olson and named for his maternal grandfather, P. S. Lovejoy, a noted Michigan conservationist. He was fond of recounting that another ancestor, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a minister and newspaper editor, was an early martyr for the abolitionist cause.

Several fossil bird species were named after Storrs, as well as a scholarly award, The Olson Prize, awarded by the Editor for the best book review published in each volume of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

Although his specialty was avian paleontology, he maintained a passion for mosses and amassed a significant collection of books and bryological journals from private collections and antiquarian bookstores. He eventually donated and endowed this collection and in 2008, the Storrs L. Olson Bryological Library was inaugurated at the University of Connecticut.

He was also the recipient of numerous awards from scholarly institutions, including The Smithsonian Institution Secretary's Distinguished Research Lecture. This award was the focus of a story about him in The Free Lance-Star in 2008 which noted "He also has a dry wit and self-effacing sense of humor that pops up in his lectures and critical writings, a touch that makes them more palatable to the layperson."

Storrs moved to Fredericksburg in 2005 and subsequently shared his life with Johanna Rose Humphrey, a resident of the city and a retiree from The Smithsonian. They were married on Leap Day, 2016, and spent summers in their home in Cape Breton, Canada.

He was known to friends and colleagues as an excellent cook and connoisseur of fine and adventurous dining. He applied his scientific dissecting skills to his culinary efforts and treated his guests to a sampling of all parts of fish, fowl, or mammal, and the occasional reptile.

He is survived by his wife Johanna of Fredericksburg, daughter Sydney Olson of Bangor Maine, son Travis Olson and granddaughter Linnea of Portland, Maine, and sister Susan Wallace-Olson of Tallahassee, Florida.

Interment of his ashes will take place at the family plot in Florida at a later date.

Donations may be made to support The Biodiversity Heritage Library, Smithsonian Libraries.

Online guestbook is available at covenantfuneralservice.com.