Paul Meyer, retiring Executive Director of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania shown here in Western China in 2011, on one of his plant exploration trips. Meyer, a leader in the field of plant exploration and evaluation has completed twelve expeditions to countries including China, Korea, Taiwan, Armenia and the Republic of Georgia, where he has collected plants from various sources to introduce greater genetic diversity. He also searches for plants that will specifically grow in stressful urban conditions.

by Pete Mazzaccaro

Paul Meyer, who has led the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill for 42 years, announced his intention to retire at the end of this year.

In a release last week, the arboretum’s Board of Directors “accepted his decision with deep gratitude for his unparalleled achievements over his many years of leadership.”

A search for his replacement has commenced and will be led by a committee of the board.

Meyer, a native of Cincinnati, joined the Arboretum in 1976 as its Curator and Director of Horticulture. At the time, the Arboretum was a small operation with fewer than 25,000 visitors and was run by the University of Pennsylvania’s botany department.

An executive director – Bill Klein -- was hired in 1978 and Meyer took over the job in 1991.

In his 27-year tenure, Meyer gradually built the arboretum into a world class institution that attracted more than 140,000 visitors last year. And according to the arboretum’s release, Meyer is leaving the institution in terrific financial shape.

“The operating budget has more than tripled from the time he became director to $9 million today,” reads the release, “and endowment has grown ten-fold since 1991 to its current value of $60.4 million.”

Meyer said little of his own accomplishments and instead credited the arboretum’s staff with its success.

“The strides that Morris Arboretum has made over the years would not have been possible without the hard work of the Arboretum’s staff, board, and volunteers whose invaluable contributions continue to enable Morris Arboretum to fulfill its role as a premier public garden,” he said.

Ellen Nalle Hass, the arboretum’s Advisory Board Chair was more direct.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.’ Nobody adopts the pace of nature better than our Paul,” she said. “For over 42 years, he has nurtured every aspect of the Morris Arboretum with thoughtful patience and with nature as his guide. On behalf of the Advisory Board of Managers, I thank him for creating this world class institution.”

In his time there, Meyer was responsible for nearly everything that makes Morris Arboretum what it is today. He restored its Fernery in 1993 and led efforts to restore the log cabin and springhouse. He brought the popular Garden Railway to the Arboretum for the first time in 1999. In a 2016 profile in the Local, Mayer said it was the beginning of a long period of growth that continues today.

“That was a real turning point,” he said. “Not only in numbers but also in demographics. We went from an older, female crowd to a family-oriented, cross-generational crowd. You come here now, you can see parents with strollers and their grandparents.”

In addition to building the arboretum into an attraction, Meyer also made it a serious source of horticultural study and academics. He has led trips abroad, brought scholars to the arboretum and has contributed to scholarly publications and even published his own.

“Under his leadership, education programs have grown and prospered,” the release announcing his retirement reads. “In, Morris Arboretum offered 188 continuing education classes, lectures and experiences serving over 3,500 participants. ... Mr. Meyer’s tenure represented in both paid summer camp programs and partnerships with underserved youth. The endowed Internship Program of nine interns celebrated its 39th program year in 2018, and remains a national model for professional development in horticulture, education, urban forestry, and plant sciences.”

Under Meyer’s leadership the Arboretum also published two editions of “Plants of Pennsylvania and Aquatic Plants of Pennsylvania,” comprehensive encyclopedias of the state’s plants that are a key reference work.

During his tenure, Meyer collected numerous awards and recognitions for his work. This year he received the 2018 Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal “for his outstanding national contributions to the science and the art of gardening.”

“Throughout his 40-year career, Paul has made outstanding regional, national, and global contributions to the science and art of gardening,” said Bill Thomas, Executive Director of Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, himself a 2017 Scott Medal Recipient “Paul has led the renaissance of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, making it an internationally significant institution known for its collections, aesthetics, education, and research. He has promoted collaboration and cooperation among international as well as local organizations, is a world leader in plant exploration, and has been instrumental in preserving open space.”

Meyer’s other awards include: the American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Professional Award in 2002, the Wyck-Strickland Award in 2010, the Award of Merit from the American Public Gardens Association in 2013 and the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award from the American Horticultural Society in 2014.

Pete Mazzaccaro can be reached at 215-248-8802 or pete@chestnuthilllocal.com