Bioversity International pays tribute to Olga Linares

Olga F. Linares a distinguished Panamanian anthropologist and tropical ecologist, passed away on 2 December 2014 at the age of 78. Educated at Vassar (B.A.) and Harvard (PhD.), Dr. Linares was a Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Science and worked as a senior staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute from 1972 until her retirement in 2008.

From 2002 till 2008 Dr. Linares served on the Board of Trustees of IPGRI, later Bioversity International. Her devoted husband Dr. Fenwick Charles Riley accompanied Olga on many of the Bioversity International board field trips but sadly died in April 2014. With her warmth and infectious laughter, keen intellect, love of field work, and communication skills, she helped Bioversity International strengthen its focus on culture, ecology, and agrarian changes that underpin the distribution and use of agricultural biodiversity. Her research in tropical America and West Africa covered the origins of agriculture to the modern role of home gardens and urban gardens in maintaining food security and biodiversity in rapidly changing agrarian societies.

Bioversity International will remember Olga's profound contribution to our institute and its mission with gratitude.