John Jacob Lavranos
29 March 1926 Corfu - 1 February 2018 Portugal
The name of John Lavranos will be familiar to lovers of cactus and succulent plants - we are sorry to learn that Mr Lavranos passed away on 1st February at his home.
" If the last century of contributions to our knowledge of succulents plants could be compared to a large greenhouse, then John Lavranos would be one of the supporting poles near the center. Not only has he found so many of Mother Nature's well hidden and most beautiful succulent treasures, but he has shared the resulting knowledge and material with utmost generosity. The combination of skills needed to do what he has done so far is only rarely found in a single human, and more than once have I heard the word genius used where John was discussed. But please note the emphasis in the last sentence, because at 80, John still regularly goes exploring in Africa, Madagascar and the Yemen! No doubt this Pablo Picasso of the succulent plant world will keep on doing his thing for more than another decade. So this issue, dedicated to John, is definitely no premature homage, but rather a long overdue applause of respect and appreciation for all that he has contributed... so far."
— Gerhard Marx in Vol 78-2 of 'Cactus and Succulent Journal' (March–April 2006)
Cactus and Succulent Journal 78(2):52-61. 2006
https://doi.org/10.2985/0007-9367(2006)78[52:JLALOB]2.0.CO;2 for an article from 2006 :
John Lavranos
A Legacy of Botanical Discoveries
John Lavranos in his garden
Sad to report the death of another well-respected plantsman.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2985/0007-9367%282006%2978%5B52%3AJLALOB%5D2.0.CO%3B2?journalCode=casu
