John Chemsak (1932-2007)
John Chemsak obtained his B.S. and M.S. in entomology at Pennsylvania State University in the mid-1950s. After developing an interest in longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), he came to the University of California, Berkeley where he had corresponded with E.G. Linsley, the department chair of Entomology and Parasitology, and a specialist in cerambycid systematics. He worked closely with Linsley as his graduate student at UC Berkeley, completely revising the first five volumes of Linsley's monograph on North American species of longhorn beetles. John conducted his Ph.D. research on the taxonomy and binomics of the genus Tetraopes in the early 1960s.
He spent the next five years working as a postdoctoral assistant research entomologist on National Science Foundation funding with Linsley, then dean of the College of Agriculture. During that time, they laid the foundation for the remaining five volumes of The Cerambycidae of North America, which were completed by Chemsak and published during the succeeding 30 years (1972-1997).
In 1967, Chemsak was reclassified as an associate specialist, and later specialist, with a 50 percent commitment to the California Insect Survey (CIS), a project in the Agricultural Experiment Station, a position he occupied for 32 years. He was a curator in the Essig Museum of Entomology and co-principal investigator on the CIS project and carried out a highly productive research program on systematics of Cerambycidae, especially of Mexico and Central America. He produced about 175 publications , in which he and coauthors described about 570 species new to science and proposed 64 new genera and one new tribe. In acknowledgement of his contributions to entomology, he has also had 40 species of insect named after him, not surprisingly, 26 of them have been beetles.
After he retired in 1994, he continued an active field and research program, with repeated expeditions to Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica in his quest for longhorn beetles, while also collecting other insects extensively. In the 40 years he was associated with the Essig museum, John Chemsak greatly expanded the museum's Mexican and Central American collection through his hard work and dedication.
