Linda Hollenberg (1953-2018)

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2018.

In 2015, Emeritus Research Botanist Dieter Wasshausen honored Linda Hollenberg by naming a new plant species Mendoncia hollenbergiae Wassh. This species in the Acanthaceae was first collected from the lowland riverside vegetation of the Yasuni National Park, Ecuador.

As this issue of The Plant Press was going to press, we were saddened to learn that Linda Ann Hollenberg passed away on 21 April 2018 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hollenberg was born on 6 May 1953 in the District of Columbia. She joined the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany in 1979 as a Museum Specialist. Hollenberg had been responsible for a number of critical core functions within the Department, including overseeing all Botany collections at the Museum Support Center, collections space in the herbarium, administrative, budget preparation, fund allocation, collections conservation issues, and special projects. She retired from the Smithsonian in 2014.  

Hollenberg was an integral part of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) council since 2005, first as a co-chair on the Education and Training Committee before becoming chair of the Archive Committee. She served as Archivist for SPNHC for 11 years. She was also active in several local native plant societies and volunteered as an usher for lectures sponsored by the Smithsonian Resident Associates and for performances at Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theatre.

Hollenberg is survived by her spouse Addison Wynn.