Grady Linder Webster, Jr., professor emeritus at UC Davis, passed away Oct. 27 from the effects of a stroke suffered a week earlier. He was 78 years old. He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Barbara Donahue Webster, and by daughter Susan Verdi Webster.

"Grady inspired young people with his passion and energy for seeing plants in their natural habitat and his global knowledge of vegetation," said Michael Barbour, a UC Davis professor of plant sciences and colleague of Webster's for 38 years.

Webster's work was one of the reasons that botanists throughout the United States have regularly ranked UC Davis' plant biology program in the top three in the country in the past 25 years. His life will be celebrated at a gathering of friends at the University Club on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m.