Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor

Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (October 28, 1875 ? February 4, 1966), the father of photojournalism, was the first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine, serving from 1899 to 1954. Grosvenor is credited with having built the magazine into the iconic publication that it is today. As president of the National Geographic Society, he made it into one of the world's largest and best known science and learning organizations, aided by the bold chronicling in its magazine of ambitious natural and cultural explorations around the globe. ^[1]

Biography

Grosvenor was born in Istanbul, Turkey (Constantinople), and educated at Worcester Academy and at Robert College.^[2] He attended Amherst College and graduated with the AB degree magna cum laude in 1897. Grosvenor was the President of the National Geographic Society (1920?1954). Grosvenor was married to Elsie May Bell (1878?1964), the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell.

• Father of National Geographic president Melville Bell Grosvenor.
• Grandfather of National Geographic president Gilbert Melville Grosvenor.
• True father of photojournalism

Legacy

Grosvenor Arch, a sandstone double arch located in southern Utah, is named after Gilbert Grosvenor.

Family relations

• Grosvenor was cousin to U.S. President and U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2005/ms005006.pdf

• A plant Lo han kuo found in China is named after him - MOMORDICA GROSVENORI.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/articles/momordica%20swingle.html

Further reading

• Poole, Robert M. Explorers House: National Geographic and the World it Made. New York: Penguin, 2004. {ISBN|1594200327}

References

He also wrote "The Book of Birds"