William Chambers Coker

William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 27, 1953) was an American botanist and mycologist. He established the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a named chair professor of botany and a chair of the botany department, and he served as president of the Botanical Society of America in 1924.

Early life and education Coker was born in Hartsville, South Carolina on October 24, 1872. Coker was the third of seven children, of the businessman James Lide Coker; he was the brother of agriculturalist David Robert Coker.

He graduated from South Carolina College in 1894 with a BS and then worked at Atlantic National Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina, rising to vice president in 1896, until returning to academia in 1897. Next he earned a PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 1901 with a study of the plant embryonic development of bald cypress under Duncan S. Johnson, titled On the Gametophytes and Embryo of Taxodium. After his PhD, he studied in Bonn, Germany with Eduard Strasburger 1901–1902. He also served as chairman of the UNC's Buildings and Grounds Committee for 30 years. He is honored in the name of Cokeromyces, which is a pathogenic fungus.

Personal life and death Coker married Louise Manning Venable, a daughter of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) president Francis Preston Venable, on October 28, 1934. Multifurca furcata (Coker) Buyck & V. Hofstetter (2008) – as Lactarius furcatus