Leonard Gilchrist WILSON

89, died April 3, 2018 at the Pillars Hospice Home in Oakdale after a short but fierce battle with cancer. Born and raised in Orillia, Ontario, Leonard earned his B.A. in biology at University of Toronto, his M.Sc. from the University of London, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1958. He has held positions at UC-Berkeley, Cornell, Yale and Minnesota, where he was Head of the Department of the History of Medicine. He retired from the University as professor emeritus in 1998. Leonard has published extensively in the history of biology and medicine, but his true passion and hobby was geology. He was devoted to and most renown for the biographical studies of Charles Lyell. In 2013 Leonard was awarded the Mary C. Rabbitt Award from The Geological Society of America for outstanding contributions to the history of geology. He was a member of the American Association for the History of Medicine and the History of Science Society. Leonard was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Adelia and brother George "Mac". He is survived by his son George (Emily) and grandchildren Piper and MacPhee, brother Robert (Elsie) and sister-in-law Jean of Huntsville, Ontario. Per his wishes, we will be having a private burial next to his wife in the Spring in Canada. Memorial donations in memory of Leonard can be made to the Animal Humane Society of Minnesota.