George C. Clerk

George Carver Clerk, (29 July 1931 – 2 May 2019) was a Ghanaian botanist and plant pathologist. Clerk, along with his academic contemporary Ebenezer Laing (1931–2015), was one of Ghana's earliest practitioners of botany as a scientific discipline, in addition to his pioneering role as a plant pathologist in West Africa. In 1973, G. C. Clerk became a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. His father, Carl Henry Clerk (1895–1982), an agricultural educator, journalist and Presbyterian minister was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1950 to 1954 and the Editor of the Christian Messenger, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana from 1960 to 1963. His mother, Martha Ayorkor Quao (1911–1989) was from La and Ga-Mashie. Quao's maternal grandfather was Nii Ngleshie Addy I, the first son of Nii Tetteh Tsuru I, the founder and ruler of the Otuopai Clan, a royal house in Ga Mashie. G. C. Clerk's father who had earlier studied agricultural science at Tuskegee University, incidentally named him after the American botanist, George Washington Carver, whose works the older Clerk had studied at the institute, perhaps a foreshadowing of the infant George's future career path.

George C. Clerk belonged to the historically notable Clerk family. His paternal great-grandfather, Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820–1906), a Jamaican Moravian educator arrived in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg, now Osu, in Accra in 1843, as part of the original group of 24 West Indians employed by the Swiss-based Basel Evangelical Missionary Society. His great-grandaunt was Regina Hesse (1832–1898), a pioneer educator. His grandmother, Anna Alice Meyer (1873–1934) was also a Euro-African. G. C. Clerk's aunts were Jane E. Clerk (1904–1999), a pioneer education administrator and Matilda J. Clerk (1916–1984), the second Ghanaian woman in orthodox-medicine. Pauline M. Clerk (1935 - 2013), a diplomat and presidential advisor, was his cousin, as was Alexander Adu Clerk (born 1947), a sleep medicine specialist and psychiatrist. George Clerk's granduncle was Emmanuel Charles Quist (1880–1959), a barrister and judge who became the first African President of the Legislative Council from 1949 to 1951, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1957, and Speaker of the National Assembly of Ghana from March 1957 to November 1957.

Clerk's maternal uncle was the jurist and judge, Nii Amaa Ollennu (1906–1986), elected the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana during the Second Republic as well as serving as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission and acting President of Ghana from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970. His uncle was Nathan Quao (1915–2005), a diplomat, educationist and public servant who doubled as a presidential advisor to several Heads of State of Ghana. Moreover, his first cousin was the economist and diplomat, Amon Nikoi (1930–2002), appointed the Governor of the Bank of Ghana from 1973 to 1977 and Finance minister from 1979 to 1981.

Education and training George Clerk was a pupil at Presbyterian primary schools at Somanya and Osu. The pioneer British plant pathologist, Ronald Karslake Starr Wood (1919 – 2017) also supervised his research in London. While at the University of Ghana, he served as the Senior Tutor of the Senior Common Room and the Hall Master for Akuafo Hall from 1979 to 1980, a hall he had lived in as a student. He served as the departmental head and was appointed the Dean of Graduate Studies at the university. Clerk's advanced treatise on plant diseases in Ghana and West Africa influenced public policies pertaining to plant development, as illustrated by his experimental investigation of the fungal pathogenesis of the black pod disease in the cocoa bean. In 1973, he became a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, the only scholar to be elected that year. G. C. Clerk was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Riverside between 1973 and 1974. He was a visiting professor at the Ahmadu Bello and Lagos universities in Nigeria. He was a resource person, chief examiner for biology and a consultant to the West African Examinations Council. Clerk was a trained pianist. Clerk's funeral service was held at the Akuafo Hall Chapel on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, before his burial at the Osu Cemetery in Accra. (contrib.) Ewer, D. W.; Hall, J. B.; Clerk, G. C. (1972) “Ecological biology: for A-level and intermediate students in Africa." London: Longman Clerk, G. C. (1974) "Crops and their diseases in Ghana." Tema: Ghana Pub. Corp. (contrib.) Ewer, D. W.; Hall, J. B.; Clerk, G. C.; Coker, W. Z.; Oldman, R. S.; Owen, D. F. et al. (1989) “Ecological biology. 1: Organisms and their environments." Harlow: Longman Clerk, G. C. (1995) "Analysis and Interpretation of Biological Data for Senior Secondary Schools." Accra: Fairfield Publications Clerk, G. C.; Madelin, M. F. (1965) “The longevity of conidia of three insect-parasitizing hyphomycetes.” Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 48 (2): 193-209 Clerk, G. C.; Ayesu-Offei, E. N. (1967). "Conidia and conidial germination in Leveillula taurica (Lev.) Arn." Annals of Botany. 31(4): 749–754 Clerk, G. C.; Caurie, M. (1968) "Biochemical changes caused by some Aspergillus species in root tuber of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.)." Trop. Sci. 10: 149–154 Clerk, G. C. (1969) “Influence of Soil Extracts on the Germination of Conidia of the Fungi Beauveria bassiana and Paecilomyces farinosus.” Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 13: 120-124 Clerk, G. C.; Ankora, J. K. (1969) "Development and release of conidia of Phyllactinia corylea." Canadian Journal of Botany. 47 (8): 1289–1290 Bimpong, C. E.; Clerk, G. C. (1970) "Motility and Chemotaxis in Zoospores of Phytophthora palmivora (Butl.) Butl." Annals of Botany. 34 (3): 617–624 Clerk, G. C.; Ankora, J. K. (1971) "Germination of conidia of Phyllactinia corylea at low humidities." Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 57 (1): 162–164 Clerk, G. C. (1972) "Germination of Sporangia of Phytophthora palmivora (Butl.) Butl." Annals of Botany. 36 (4): 801–807 Clerk, G.C. (1974) "Ultrastructure of Wall Swellings of Germinating Sporangia of Phytophthora palmivora (Butl.) Butl." Annals of Botany. 38 (5): 1103–106 Maramba, P.; Clerk, G.C. (1974) "Survival of conidia of Trachysphaera fructigena." Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 63 (2): 391–393 Clerk, G. C. (1978) "Tapinanthus bangwensis in a Cola Plantation in Ghana." PANS. 24 (1): 57–62 Manu, M.; Clerk, G. C. (1981) "Secondary Sporangium Formation in Phytophthora Palmivora (Butl.) Butl." Annals of Botany. 47(3): 329–334 Akushie, P-L; Clerk, G. C. (1981) "Effect of relative humidity on viability of Rhizopus oryzae sporangiospores." Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 76 (2): 332–334 Cartey Caesar, J.; Clerk, G. C. (1985) "Water Stress-Induced Changes in the Morphology of the Powdery Mildew, Leveillula taurica (Lèv.) Arn." Journal of Phytopathology. 112 (3): 217–221 Cartey Caesar, J.; Clerk, G. C. (1985) "Germinability of Leveillula taurica (powdery mildew) conidia obtained from water-stressed pepper plants." Canadian Journal of Botany. 63 (10): 1681–1684 Odamtten, G. T.; Clerk, G. C. (1988) "Effect of metabolites of Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma viride on development and structure of radicle of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) seedlings." Plant and Soil. 106 (2): 285–288 Ampofo, J. A.; Clerk, G. C. (2002) “Infestation of fish-culturing communities with fish-borne bacteria: The Ghanaian case.” International Journal of Environmental Health Research. 12 (3):277-82 Ampofo, J. A.; Clerk, G. C. (2003) “Diversity of bacteria in sewage treatment plant used as fish culture pond in southern Ghana.” Aquaculture Research. 34 (8): 667-675 Ampofo, J. A.; Clerk, G. C. (2003) “Bacterial flora of fish feeds and organic fertilizers for fish culture ponds in Ghana.” Aquaculture Research. 34 (8): 677-680 Ameka, G. K.; Clerk, G. C.; Pfeifer, E.; Rutishauser, R. (2003) "Developmental morphology of Ledermanniella bowlingii (Podostemaceae) from Ghana." Plant Systematics and Evolution. 237 (3-4): 165–183 Ampofo, J. A.; Clerk, G. C. (2010) “Diversity of Bacteria Contaminants in Tissues of Fish Cultured in Organic Waste-Fertilized Ponds: Health Implications.” The Open Fish Science Journal. 3 (1):142-146 Annang, T. Y.; Yirenya-Tawiah, R. D.; Clerk, G. C. (2012) “Preliminary Studies on the Occurrence of Freshwater Epipelic Algae in the Densu Basin in Southern Ghana.” West African Journal of Ecology. 20 (2): 11–17 Annang, T. Y.; Yirenya-Tawiah, R. D.; Clerk, G. C.; Smith, T. (2014) "Some aspects of the ecology of freshwater algae in the Densu River and two tributaries in Southern Ghana." International Journal of Environment. 3 (2): 246–257