Most appropriately, the first Joseph A. Cushman Award for Excellence in Foraminiferal Research was presented by the Cushman Foundation Board of Directors at its 1980 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, to M. RUTH TODD of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.

A truly remarkable lady, Ruth Todd began her studies of foraminifera with Joseph A. Cushman himself at his Sharon, Massachusetts, laboratory in 1940. After she had completed a Master of Science degree at the University of Washington, Cushman persuaded her to come and work with him in his laboratory, first as a student, then an assistant, and finally as a collaborative, full-fledged researcher. She worked with Cushman until his death in 1949, co-authoring 28 papers on the taxonomy, stratigraphy and occurrence of foraminifera. In 1950, Ruth moved with the Cushman collection of foraminifera to the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C., where she continued her curatorial interest in that collection as well as her duties as paleontologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Housed next to the Cushman Room at the Museum, Ruth remained with the Survey until her move to a lovely home on Martha's Vineyard. Although retired since 1967, Ruth continues her studies in association with the U.S.G.S. and the Smithsonian Institution. She now works in a comfortable laboratory she constructed in her home on projects as diverse as foraminiferal systematics, ecology, and stratigraphy, and on the history of foraminiferology.

It is for Ruth Todd's careful and complete research, chiefly on Mesozoic and Cenozoic smaller foraminifera, that she was named the first recipient of the Cushman Award. Her published works on these topics are many, and they continue to grow today. These many papers are all the more remarkable because they are not simply thin journal articles, but commonly they are the longer and more comprehensive Professional Papers of the U.S.G.S. They are models of thorough and well-done research contributions.

Ruth Todd has studied smaller foraminifera from many geographical areas and geological ages. Separating her vast experience in this field into different topics will surely result in omissions. Yet it is the only way to summarize her contributions. While working with Cushman, Ruth established herself as an expert on tropical living and fossil foraminifera. Her work with Cushman and Rita Post, "Recent Foraminifera of the Marshall Islands," published in 1954, marked the start of this interest. This paper remains invaluable in the study of tropical foraminifera. It led to work on other Pacific island faunas-Bikini, Saipan, Yap, Eniwetok, Onotoa, Guam, Midway and Tonga-and to studies of Caribbean assemblages as well. Together these papers stand as an encyclopedia of Tertiary and Quaternary tropical foraminifera that will be unmatched and without which further work cannot proceed. The papers deal with the ecology, paleoecology and biostratigraphy of foraminifera over a major portion of the earth's surface. Each contribution is documented with careful systematics and quality illustrations, all attesting to the perfection with which Ruth does her work.

Foraminifera from other areas and times also attracted Ruth Todd's interest. With Doris Low, Ruth documented faunas from Martha's Vineyard, the Arctic Ocean, and the Gulf of Alaska. She and Doris also described fossil foraminifera from the Caribbean region. In the 1960's Ruth diversified to study Cretaceous assemblages from various locations.

In the mid-1950's, Ruth Todd and Paul Blackmon began studies on the mineralogy of foraminiferal tests as it related to the systematics and ecology of the various groups. Their work culminated in a classic paper that won for them the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Paleontology for 1959. The paper is still an essential reference on test composition.

Ruth Todd did much more, however, than outstanding research on foraminifera. Over the years, she has performed many valuable services for the profession. While with the Survey, Ruth maintained a most useful card catalog of species and their occurrences and wrote her quarterly compilation "Recent Literature on the Foraminifera" for the Contributions from the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research and its successor, the Journal of Foraminiferal Research. She still continues these compilations which are used and valued by all foraminiferal workers. Ruth was a founding member of the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research, served as an initial trustee, and was its first Secretary/Treasurer.

Although Ruth Todd has had no formal students of her own during her career, she has helped many of us with information, specimens, literature, kindness and charm. She has genuinely been a teacher for many, and her legacy will inspire students of the foraminifera for a long, long time.

The Board of Directors is pleased and honored to make the first Joseph A. Cushman Award to M. Ruth Todd.

 

JERE H. Lipps

from: Journal of Foraminiferal Research, v. 11, no. 4, p. 258-259, October 1981