A member of the U-M faculty for 40 years when he retired in 1991, "Wagner was widely regarded as the founder of modern day systematics for all groups of plants and animals, and was the first to argue that phylogenetic reconstruction could be made explicit and rational," said Julian P. Adams, professor and chair of the U-M Department of Biology. "He then proceeded to construct procedures by which this could be accomplished. Today, the phrase 'Wagner [phylogenetic] tree' is part of the lingua franca of systematic biologists around the world.
My first semester I took "Woody Plants" with Burt Barnes and Herb Wagner, and “Environmental Field Studies” with the late Bill Stapp. I was in heaven! I couldn’t BELIEVE what was expected of us in Woody Plants. Long afternoons in the field—sun, rain, sleet or hail—and we had them all. And long hours in the indoor lab memorizing soggy leaves and twigs in light-green lab trays. There were compelling lectures, too. I had to write furiously to keep up with Burt and was amazed at Herb’s ability to entertain. I just loved it.
