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His photomicrographs of the anatomy of woody tissues are
masterpieces of clarity and they also have a unique beauty
which reflects the beauty that he saw in the preparations which
he studied. Like his father, a distinguished astronomer who,
through his telescope, saw beauty in the stars of the firmament,
so the son, a distinguished anatomist, saw, through
his microscope, the beauty of the cells and tissues of the forest
trees. There was a strong strain of the artist in Irving Bailey.
As a teacher Professor Bailey was at his best with advanced
students and younger colleagues. He had none of the flam-
boyance that in less serious times appealed to the undergradu-
ate taste. Not a dynamic lecturer, his knowledge of his subject
was so vast and his preparation so thorough that he custom-
arily lectured for fifty minutes without a single note. How-
ever, it was in his personal conferences with students and in
the example which he set them that he became a truly in-
spiring teacher whose influence on his students was so lasting
that a number of them now enjoy the same world-wide recogni-
tion which he himself had earlier achieved.
Professor Bailey never regarded himself as an administrator
but when he was asked during the years of World War II
to study the botanical situation at Harvard, which was then
in a chaotic state, and to make recommendations for its im-
provement he gave up two years of his research to this formi-
dable task. Because of his intimate knowledge of the history
of Harvard's several botanical institutions and because of the
confidence that all Harvard botanists had in him, he was able
to persuade ten independent, virtually autonomous, botanical
institutions, which had previously been too proud to stand
together and too weak to stand alone, to join forces in working
for the good of botany as a whole without sacrificing their
own specified objectives. Although this reorganization, which
came to be known as the "Bailey Plan," was subjected to
criticism, as are almost all innovations, it served its principal
purposes and botany at Harvard is today the stronger because
of it. The criticism from some quarters, directed at its author,
he bore for almost two decades with fortitude and courage,
knowing that he had done the right thing.
It was as an elder, whose integrity and judgement I re-
spected, and as a warm and loyal friend that I knew Irving
Bailey best. Coming to Harvard forty-six years ago as a
graduate student from a midwestern state, I was for a time
awed by its academic splendor and noble traditions, bewildered
by its complexities, and all too aware of my own shortcom-
ings. It was during this period that Dr. Bailey, although not
officially my mentor, gave me advice, not of the fatherly kind
for he was not that much older but the advice of a wise and
understanding brother. It was he, more than any other
member of the Harvard Faculty, who helped me to gain
confidence and to finish my graduate work in a reasonably
respectable fashion; it was he who, at my oral examination
before the entire august faculty of the Bussey Institution,
seeing the stress under which I labored sought to put me at
ease by asking several questions which he knew quite well I
could not fail to answer. But having put me somewhat at
ease he then took me through a round of searching questions.
Others among us could tell similar stories of the kindliness
that he combined with his uncompromising standards.
Thus there began for me, more than forty years ago, a
deep respect for Professor Bailey which after my return to
Harvard in 1940 ripened into a friendship and a warm affec-
tion that I shall always treasure.
We shall miss him sorely for, having never really retired,
he was with us working daily in his laboratory almost until
the end. But the inspiration which he has given us and the
esteem and affection which we have for him will have a place
in our memories so long as memory lasts.
PAUL C. MANGELSDORF
A tribute read at the Memorial Service for Irving Widmer Bailey,
Memorial Church, Harvard University, May 19, 1967.
