Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.

Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.

Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. was an American mammalogist, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He was the first to describe the Bornean white gibbon. Lyon became a conservationist later in life. He died in South Bend, Indiana, in 1942 at the age of 75.

About Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. in brief

Summary Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. was an American mammalogist, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He was the first to describe the Bornean white gibbon. Lyon was born into a military family, and demonstrated an early interest in zoology by collecting local wildlife around his father’s army posts. Lyon became a conservationist later in life. He died in South Bend, Indiana, in 1942, at the age of 75. He is considered a taxonomic authority for the family Ptilocercidae. He also described the genus Anathana and two genera of leporids, Pporolids and Pentalagus. Lyon is buried in Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, with his wife, Martha Lyon, and two brothers, Henry S. Lyon and James W. Lyon. The family moved across the U.S. throughout his childhood and adolescence. Lyon’s father, Captain Marcus Ward Lyon Sr. ; his mother, Lydia Anna Lyon; and his two brothers were active members of the military.

Lyon died at age 75 in 1942 at the same location where he had lived for more than 30 years. He had a son, Marcus Ward Jr., who was also a pathologist, and a daughter, Martha Ward Lyon, who was an ophthalmologist. Lyon worked at the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C. until 1912. He received his Ph. D. from George Washington University in 1913. He taught at Howard University Medical School and later George Washington Medical School. Lyon acquired the rank of major in the Medical Reserve Corps during World War I, and was appointed president of the American Society of Mammalogists from 1931 to 1932. His private zoological collections were incorporated into the USNM collections at the 1904 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. He published more than 160 papers during his career.