Heald studied under W. F. P. Pfeffer and received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Leipzig in 1897. Heald’s career took him to Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, and finally to Washington, where he drove the establishment of the Department of Plant Pathology at Washington State College in 1918. He served as chair of this department from 1918 until his retirement in 1941. Heald studied a variety of diseases, including chestnut blight, cereal smut diseases, and postharvest diseases of apples. In 1926, he authored the widely used Manual of Plant Diseases, one of the first comprehensive plant pathology texts. Heald was a charter member of APS and served as its president in 1932.
(Submitted for publication in July 2008.)
