Fonds UAA Fonds 0512 - Harold J. Brodie fonds

Harold Johnston Brodie was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He studied mycology at the University of Manitoba, earning a BSc (1929) and an MSc (1930). He was awarded the Newcomb Fellowship at the University of Michigan and worked for a year in Belgium, co-authoring three papers about basidiomycetes. He completed his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1934.

After completing his PhD, Brodie taught mycology and held other positions at the University of Toronto, McDonald College ( in Bellevue, Quebec), the University of Manitoba, and Indiana University at Bloomington. In 1957, he became the head of the Department of Botany at the University of Alberta. He stayed at the U of A until his retirement in 1969, when he was appointed professor emeritus.

Brodie remarried in 1972, moved to Victoria, British Columbia, and became a professor emeritus at the University of Victoria. In 1981, they moved to Ottawa, Ontario, and Brodie continued his research at Carleton University. Brodie was known for his work with bird’s nest fungi and published a book about them. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (1952), the Canada Centennial Medal (1967), and the Lawson Medal of the Canadian Botanical Association (1977). Brodie also gave the Annual Lecture of the Mycological Society of American in 1962.

Brodie was married to Mary Unrau Brodie. He had one daughter with his late wife, pianist Helen Williams. In addition to mycology, Brodie was passionate about music and composed music. He passed away in 1989 in Ottawa, Ontario.