Edita Marija Šolić

Marija Edita Šolić (26 August 1946 - 31 October 2021), was a Croatian botanist, museum curator and educator.

Early life and education She was born in Brštanovo near Klis, where she completed elementary school, and in 1963 joined the order of the School Sisters of St. Francis, taking her vows and religious name Edita in 1965. The following year, Šolić went to Franciscan convent in Makarska, where she was employed at the Malacology Museum, becoming Jure Radić's associate. Together they worked on the establishment of the Mountain and the Sea Institute (Croatian: Institut "Planina i more") and forming the malacological collection, collections of fossil mollusks and other invertebrates, as well as live and herbaria plant collections. On 26 September 1972 at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo she passed an entrance exam, enrolling Environment Conservation study. Šolić graduated biology on 24 August 1980 with thesis “Significant Biokovo plants with special emphasis on their protection” under the supervision of Professor Radomir Lakušić. On 30 May 1986 she successfully defended her master's thesis in ecology “Chorologic-ecological and phenologic-morphological differentiation of Biokovo’s endemic Centaureas from subgenus Acrolophus (Cass.) Dobr.-Kov.”. She attained the rank of scientific assistant on 17 December 1992 and upon the decision of the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Croatia was entered in the Register of Researchers on 11 February 1993.

Šolić entered monastery of School Sisters of St. Francis in Split on 1 May 1963, starting her novitiate on 8 September 1965, at the feast of Nativity of Mary. She gave temporary vows on 9 September 1966 and lifelong on 25 August 1971.

She died in Split on 31 October 2021 and was buried at the Lovinac cemetery in Split, on 4 November 2021.

Acknowledgements Silver Plaque for the exceptional achievements and merits in the promotion of the Croatian economy (Croatian Chamber of Commerce, 1992) Award of Biokovo Croatian Mountaineering Association (1996) Annual Award and recognition of the achievements in the fields of environment conservation and biological and environmental diversity (1997) City of Makarska Award (1998)

Selected works Book chapters Šolić, M.E., 1983: "Poznavanje flore Biokova od Visianija do danas". In: Pavletić, Z., Matković, P., Grubšić, S. (eds.), Zbornik Roberta Visianija Šibenčanina, 349–364. Muzej grada Šibenika, Šibenik. Šolić, M.E., 1999: "Prirodna baština - nezaobilazani temelj odgoja i obrazovanja". In: Macan, T. (ed.), Hrvatska i održivi razvitak. Humane i odgojne vrednote. Ministarstvo razvitka i obnove, Zagreb. Pustahija, F., Šolić, E.M., Siljak-Yakovlev, S., 2017: "Karyological study of some Mediterranean species from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Lebanon". In: Kamari, G., Blanché, C., Siljak-Yakovlev, S. (eds.), Mediterranean chromosome data – 27. Flora Mediterranea 27, 295–301