Eric Lynn Quinter

Eric Lynn Quinter, 77, lost his battle with esophageal cancer on July 4, 2024 in Windham, CT, in the home he loved. Highly intelligent, funny, loving, and most of all happy, Eric was a remarkable person with varied and diverse interests and areas of expertise, who formed many valued and lasting relationships with those who shared his passions - entomology, numismatics and mineralogy among them.

Eric was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania on January 20, 1947, to Harry A. Quinter and Frances A. (Snyder) Quinter. He graduated from Schuylkill Haven High School in 1964, and The Pennsylvania State University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in General Agriculture (Entomology). He worked briefly as a chemist in a dye company, then for the PA Department of Agriculture as an entomologist, before joining the American Museum of Natural History. For 29 years he was part of the Departments of Entomology and Invertebrate Zoology, retiring as a Senior Scientific Assistant in 2004.

Eric's love of the natural world, from the night sky, to rocks and minerals, to plants and animals, especially insects, and even to the atoms and elements of the cosmos, started at an early age. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, nature was Eric's playground, and rocks, plants, birds, and insects were his playmates. Encouraged by his mother, who gave him his first insect net, he spent his childhood exploring and collecting everything in sight. He never stopped. Eric's collection of butterflies and moths from eastern Pennsylvania netted him First Prize in the Science Fair his senior year in high school.

Not long out of college, Eric found a species of moth never before seen or known to science in a bog on top of a mountain not far from his home. This discovery led him on a life-long quest to find out all he could about this moth and its relatives, many species of which were also new to science, with totally unknown life cycles before he found the caterpillars boring into the stems of their hostplants. Eric's initial discovery led to another whole suite of new species that specialized on native North American bamboo. His field work took him (and sometimes his children, willingly or unwillingly) to swamps, canebrakes, and other challenging natural habitats. The results of these extensive studies will soon be published as a book in the "Moths of North America" series.

Eric collected insects in places as far away as Argentina and Madagascar for his job, but North American butterflies and moths were his avocational specialty, to which he devoted countless productive hours. His whole life, Eric chased butterflies (and other insects) and ran special traps to sample moths wherever he went, mounting and labelling each to exacting standards. His collection, estimated to contain over 300,000 specimens, is likely one of the largest ever assembled by any private individual, and is being donated to Yale University and the University of Connecticut, where it will be preserved and available for future generations to study.

Eric's fabulous collection of minerals, also assembled over decades, was documented with the same attention to detail as his insects. The beautiful specimens he had on display thrilled his fellow mineralogists, but all visitors, young and old, experienced a real treat when Eric turned on special lights and his fluorescent minerals glowed in the dark.

It was obvious how much Eric loved the outdoors. He was equally happy in full field regalia (complete with pith helmet) collecting in some far-flung locale as he was in the same outfit (with a straw hat instead of the helmet) working hard to turn the yard in Windham into a beautiful haven for biodiversity as well as for its human inhabitants. All that knowledge had a practical application after all!

Eric's unique way of seeing the world contributed to his profound fascination with all aspects of the environment. A keen observer, he would see things that most people would never even notice - it was hard to go for a walk with him because he was always stopping to investigate one natural phenomenon or another. Perpetually curious, he never stopped asking questions or formulating hypotheses. Eric's acute powers of observation, combined with his ability to retain and recall details and integrate all that information, resulted in an astonishingly broad knowledge base which he willingly shared with appreciative audiences of all ages and backgrounds. He especially enjoyed showing children live insects or his preserved collections in the hope that they would be inspired to study nature.

Beyond the natural world, Eric also loved music, from classical to heavy metal and rock 'n roll. Amazingly, he could remember song lyrics verbatim and recite them at will, even with all those plant, insect, and mineral names in his brain.

Eric's command of the English language made him a superb writer and editor (he worked for a time as a legal proofreader), and he even wrote poetry. Eric was a natural teacher and a masterful storyteller, the kind who could captivate and delight any and all listeners, whether they were family members, friends, children on a bug walk, or colleagues at a conference. Eric was also known for his (sometimes wicked, always irreverent) sense of humor and his knack for telling jokes, many of which related true stories from his upbringing, and were usually told with the specific accent of the local Pennsylvanians. No matter how many times he told them, his jokes were still always funny.

One of his hallmarks was Eric's painstaking attention to detail, methodical and accurate in all his undertakings, even to the way he made his famous gin and tonics. Despite giving his secret recipe to others, no one else could make a drink that tasted quite as good as his.

In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his half-brother Robert and half-sister Harriet. He leaves his daughter, Sarah, and son, Daniel, and their mother, former spouse Janice, along with several cousins, nieces, and nephews. He also leaves his beloved life partner and soul mate, Jane O'Donnell, and his furry friend Dexter, who miss him terribly.