The Reverend Donald D. Dod (October 10, 1912, Kansas City Missouri – April 1, 2008, West Virginia), was an American missionary and orchidologist.

Life

He went to Long Beach Junior College and graduated from the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

, Berkeley with a major in Chemistry. After a stint in the oil industry he entered San Francisco Theological Seminary

San Francisco Theological Seminary

San Francisco Theological Seminary is a graduate school affiliated with Presbyterian Church located in San Anselmo, California. Founded in 1871, SFTS is a graduate theological institution that is focused on graduate theological education in the Reformed tradition...

 in San Anselmo, CA, where he met his future wife, Annabelle Jean Stockton (aka Tudy). They graduated with a Master’s degree in Divinity and a Master in Christian Education respectively.

In 1946 the Dods established a Presbyterian ministry in El Guacio in western Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, which included among many other activities a health clinic, a social work program and public health efforts. During their 17 year stay in Puerto Rico, they “became enamored of the flora and fauna of Puerto Rico”. While Tudy became interested in birds, Donald became an extremely well versed amateur orchidologist, having discovered well over fifty new orchid species and (having taught himself the rudiments of botanical Latin) described many of them himself.

They moved to the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 in 1964 and remained there until his retirement in 1988. Continuing his varied activities as minister and social worker, Donald Dod became instrumental, among other causes, in the establishment of the Santo Domingo Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Natural History there, and in the creation of natural reserves on the island.

Donald Dod was a research associate at the Department of Botany,of the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

, Berkeley.

Honors

The Dods were made Caballeros de Colón, the highest civilian award of the Dominican Republic.

Named after him is the Parque Nacional Donald Dod, as well as the orchids

• Epidendrum dodii L.Sánchez & Hágsater
• Lepanthopsis dodii Garay
• Psychilis dodii Sauleda
• Schiedeella dodii Burns-Bal.
• Specklinia dodii (Garay) Luer
• Lepanthes dodiana W.R.Stimson
• Trigonochilum dodianum (Ackerman & Chiron) Königer

and named after Annabelle Dod

• Epidendrum annabellae Nir
• Lepanthes tudiana Dod
• Psychilis × tudiana Dod

by D. Dod

• DOD, D.D. 1976 Orquideas Dominicanas nuevas 1. Moscosoa 1:50-54.
• DOD, D.D. 1971 Orquideas Dominicanas nuevas. Moscosoa 1:39-54.
• DOD, D.D. 1978 Orquideas dominicanas nuevas 3. Moscosoa 1:49-63.
• DOD, D.D. l983 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniola y otras notas 4. Moscosoa 2:2-18.
• DOD, D.D. 1984 Quisqueya: a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola 1. Bol. Soc. Dominicana de Orquideologia. 2:40-52.
• DOD, D.D. 1984 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniolla y otras notas 5. Moscosoa 3:100-120.
• DOD, D.D. 1984 Quisqueya: a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola 2. Bol. Soc. Dominicana de Orquideologia. 3:16-30.
• DOD, D.D. 1986 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas à la ciencia, endemicas en la Hispaniola. Moscosoa 4:133-187.
• DOD, D.D. 1993 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) Dominicanas nuevas para la Espaniola y otras notas 8. Moscosoa 7:153-155.
• DOD, D.D. 1993 Orquideas (Orchidaceae) nuevas para la ciencia, endemicas de la Espaniola. 3. Moscosoa 7:157-165.
• DOD, D.D. 1993 El genero Epidendrum (Orchidaceae) de la Espaniola: Introduccion y clave. 3. Moscosoa 7:167-170.
• HESPENHEIDE, H.A. & D.D. DOD 1990 El genero Lepanthes (Orchidaceae) de la Española 2. Moscosoa 6:167-195

by A. S. Dod

• Annabelle S Dod Endangered and endemic birds of the Dominican Republic. Cypress House, Fort Bragg, CA.1992.:
• Annabelle S Dod Guía de campo para las aves de la República Dominicana Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 2002. Santo Domingo, R. D.
• Annabelle S Dod; José Osorio; Laura Rathe de Cambiaso Aves de la República Dominicana. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 1978. Santo Domingo, R. D.