Forster, Dr Raymond Robert Biography 1991

FORSTER, Dr Raymond Robert
QSO 1984, Jubilee Medal 1977
Research Scientist; Emeritus Director, Otago Museum
Born Hastings, 19 June 1922, son of Robert Charles Forster and Winifred M (née Forrest); married Lyndsay McLaren Clifford (see Forster, Lyn(dsay) McLaren), daughter of May and Arthur Clifford, 1948; two sons two daughters.
Education: Hastings Primary and High Schools; Victoria University, Bachelor of Science 1947, Master of Science 1948; University of NZ, Doctor of Science 1954; Otago University, Doctor of Science 1978; FRSNZ 1962 (RSNZ’s Hector Medal 1983, Hutton Medal 1991), FAMNZ; Fulbright Residential Scholar and Res Fellow, Harvard University, 1956-1957; Residential Fellow, Bishop Museum, Hawaii, 1964 -; Residential Fellow 1976 -, Thorne Fellow 1989, American Museum of Natural History; Senior Residential Fellow, Smithsonian, Washington DC, 1989-. RNZN, 1942-1945.
Entomologist, Dominion Museum of NZ, 1941-1948; Zoologist, Assistant Director, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, 1948-1957; Director, Otago Museum, 1957-1987 (retired); Vice President, International Arachnological Society, 1983-1986; President, Otago Branch, RSNZ, 1962-1963.  Foundation Member, Peninsula Trust (Otago), 1969-1975; Member: Otago Goldfields Park Board 1971-1979, Photographic Society of Dunedin.
Publications: ‘Spiders of NZ’, Otago Museum Bulletins I-VI, 1967-1988, 17 Nature Heritage articles; co-author with Dr Lyn Forster: Small Land Animals of NZ, 1979, New Zealand Spiders, 1973.
Recreations: natural history, photography, gardening.
Address: 100 Norfolk Street, St Clair, Dunedin.