Dennis Harold Latham

(15 November 1906 – 1 July 2003) ^1,2

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU) curates 17 bryophytes collected by Dennis Harold Latham, who usually signed his labels as D. H. Latham.  He also identified 11 bryophyte specimens that had been collected by Duke University bryologist Hugo Leander Blomquist.  It is odd that as of December, 2023 the Duke University Herbarium had not cataloged any bryophytes collected by Dennis H. Latham.³

Dennis Harold Latham was born to John F. and Rhoda E. Latham on 15 November, 1906 in Bath, Beaufort County, North Carolina.  John Latham was a farmer.^2,4 Dennis Latham graduated in 1931 with a degree in Plant Pathology from North Carolina State College.⁵  On 23 December, 1932 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina Dennis H. Latham married Juanita Mauney. ⁶

Latham earned a Masters degree (A.M.) at Duke University in 1933; the title of his thesis was “A Cercospora Leaf Spot on Cowpeas”.  In 1935 Latham published a paper on having found a rare fungus, Achlya recurva Cornu in North Carolina; in the acknowledgments he thanks Dr. John Nathaniel Couch of the Botany Department at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who had provided guidance for the project.⁸ Latham had collected the fungus “from a moderately dry, red clay soil in a cotton field on the Central Experiment Station Farm at Raleigh, N.C. [North Carolina], October 18, 1934.  It is unclear if Latham was studying with Dr. Couch; if so, he may not have completed a degree as he is not listed in William Burk’s lists of Masters and Doctoral Degrees awarded by the Botany Department.⁹

The 1940 U.S. Census reports Dennis, Juanita and infant son Roger Alan living in Springfield, Robertson County, Tennessee.  Dennis’ occupation as “plant pathologist” and his place of work as the Agricultural Experiment Station.¹⁰  This may be what is now known as the Highland Rim AgResearch and Education Center (3181 Experiment Station Road, Springfield, TN), a unit of the University of Tennessee. Two of Latham’s professional publications in the 1960’s deal with the biology and pathogens of tobacco, and these are still areas of research at the Highland Rim station today.  The 59th Annual Report of the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station in 1946 lists Latham as “Assoc. Plant Pathologist, Springfield”.¹¹  Latham’s 1969 publication on a tobacco pathogen lists him as an Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Biology.

Dennis Harold Latham died on 1 July 2003 and is buried with his wife, Juanita Mauney Latham (1911-2009) in Springfield Memorial Gardens, Springfield, Robertson County, Tennessee.^1,2

PUBLICATIONS:

Latham, Dennis Harold. 1933. A Cercospora Leaf Spot on Cowpeas.  A.M. Thesis, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Latham, Dennis H. 1935.  Achlya recurva Cornu from North Carolina.  Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 51(1): 183-188.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/24332074

University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station; Parks, W. L.; Safley, L. M.; and Latham, D. H. 1967. Fertilization of Dark Tobacco. Bulletins.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agbulletin/169

University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station and Latham, Dennis H. 1969. DF-300, a Black Shank Resistant Dark Fire-Cured Tobacco and Observations on Tobacco Black Shank in Tennessee.  Bulletins. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agbulletin/149