Canadian Mennonite Bible College receives estate gift

Winnipeg, Man

Canadian Mennonite Bible College, the college for Conference of Mennonites in Canada, recently received a $2 million gift from the estate of the late Dr. Katharine Esau. Esau, an international expert on plant anatomy, died June 4, 1997, in Santa Barbara, at age 99. According to CMBC president, Gerald Gerbrandt, Esau directed that approximately half of the gift be used for scholarships, student aid and support for the sciences. The remainder of the funds is to be used at the discretion of the president and the board of directors.

Esau Aabsolutely dominated the field of plant anatomy and morphology for several decades,@ according to Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Esau was a Mennonite of German descent who was born in Ukraine. She studied in Moscow until 1917. She and her family then sought refuge in Germany, and in 1922, she and her parents emigrated to the US and settled in Reddley, Calif. She taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, and was just the sixth woman ever to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Her book Plant Anatomy, was the leading text on plant structure and is now considered a classic.

CMBC news release

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