Albert Ernest Radford

Phil Radford, Albert's grandson, runs Greenpeace

Radford was born in Augusta, Georgia to Albert and Eloise Moseley Radford, one of nine children. He was educated at Junior College of Augusta, Furman University (B.S., 1939) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D., 1948). He served in the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion of the United States Army during World War II and saw action in North Africa and Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, for which his battalion was awarded the Croix de Guerre.

He and his wife (married 1941), Laurie Stewart Radford (1910–2004), had three children, David, John, and Linda. Albert was Professor of Botany at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for forty years and director of the University of North Carolina Herbarium for 23 years.

Professionally, he served as President of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society and of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club. Besides his academic work in botany, he was active in conservation of natural areas in the Southeastern United States. One of his most significant accomplishments was the discovery of an unusual plant community which has since become protected as Steven's Creek Heritage Preserve. Among his students was ethnobotanist James A. Duke. His grandson Phil Radford is executive director of Greenpeace.

• Albert Radford, H.E. Ahles, and C. R. Bell (1968). Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1087-8.
• Vascular Plant Systematics (1974). New York: Harper and Row. 891 pp.
• Fundamentals of Plant Systematics (1986). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-350594-0.
• Natural Heritage: Classification, Inventory, and Information (1981). Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1463-6.
• Unbroken Line: the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion from Normandy to Munich (2002), with Laurie S. Radford; designed, edited and published by John S. Radford. CrossMountain Publishing, Woodside, CA. ISBN 0-9717638-0-1

• Burk, William R. and Alan S. Weakley (2006). Albert E. Radford-A Tribute. Castanea, September, 2006 (available from FindArticles).
• UNC Herbarium--article on Albert Radford, accessed 4 May 2006
• UNC Herbarium--article on Laurie Stewart Radford, accessed 4 May 2006
• North Carolina Botanical Garden--accessed 4 May 2006
• Columbia, Missouri, Missourian--obituary, accessed 4 May 2006