Robert Freckmann
1939 –
Inducted 2025
Dr. Freckmann has loved, explored, and conserved the natural resources of Wisconsin all his life through his teaching, research, outreach, and volunteerism as a member of the Botanical Club of Wisconsin (founding member, second president, and Central Wisconsin chapter leader for 55 years), Aldo Leopold Audubon Society (board member, officer, or chair for 30 years), Ice Age Trail Alliance (hike leader for 39 years), North Central Conservancy Trust (emeritus board member, conducting botanical surveys for 23 years), The Natu
re Conservancy (8-year board member), and Wisconsin Wetlands Association (4-year board member). He has given hundreds of talks, led innumerable field trips, and conducted workshops attended by thousands who have heard him speak on the imperative of conserving Wisconsin’s flora.
Born in Milwaukee in 1939, Bob attended UW-Milwaukee for his undergraduate degree and Iowa State for his PhD, studying the taxonomy of Dichanthelium and Panicum grasses which occur throughout Wisconsin’s prairies, savannas, fields, and roadsides. After working at the Milwaukee Public Museum, Bob joined the faculty of UW-Stevens Point in 1968, where he taught botany and museum courses for 32 years, inspiring over 5,000 students, many of whom pursued careers in conservation. He enlarged the eponymous Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium from 2,500 to 230,000 specimens, documenting the biological diversity of Wisconsin, including major portions of the state not well-covered by other institutions and major aquatic plant inventories. These collections are paramount for establishing baselines for any effective conservation work in the State of Wisconsin.
For decades, Bob has been the “go-to” person for Wisconsin conservationists wishing to identify plants, especially members of difficult groups, sharing his expertise with federal, state and local agencies and organizations who gratefully make the pilgrimage to the Herbarium, where he patiently explains the finer points of identification, ecology, and distribution of aquatic macrophytes, grasses, and sedges.
RESOURCES:
Wisconsin State Herbarium, UW-Madison