University Times

Biological sciences faculty member William P. Coffman died Jan. 25, 2013, at his home in Oakmont. He was 71.

A graduate of Thiel College, Coffman joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1967 after completing his PhD at Pitt.

He was promoted to associate professor of biological sciences in 1974.

An entomologist, Coffman’s research focused on chironomids, minuscule aquatic insects that are important to freshwater ecological systems.

Colleague Tony Bledsoe noted, “It’s hard to be No. 1 in the world about something and he was No. 1 in the systematics and taxonomy of chironomid midges.”

Bledsoe and Coffman both taught at Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, where Coffman, in the heart of his career, conducted studies of midges and other insects in the Linesville Creek.

More recently the two interacted not only because of their common interests as evolutionary biologists, but because their offices and labs were close to one another.

“I lost an important colleague,” Bledsoe said. “He was an extremely well trained and insightful evolutionary biologist, of the evolutionary biologists, classically trained, yet he kept modern. He kept a close eye on the relationship between development and evolution — he was aware of how important that was from his early training — and it has become a hot topic today.”

Coffman had a particular interest in the contributions of Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of natural selection, and read widely both in evolutionary biology and outside his field.

Coffman was interested in the modern and historical development of evolutionary biology and enjoyed history in general.

“Bill was a wide thinker and a constant reader,” Bledsoe said, noting that when in his office Coffman often could be found at his desk, reading.

“We talked a lot about teaching. He was a very insightful evolutionary biologist,” said Bledsoe.

Having taught the introductory Foundations of Biology II course each spring for decades, Coffman influenced thousands of undergraduates, said departmental colleague Laurel Roberts. “He had a profound influence on students in the major.”

Roberts, who joined the Pitt faculty in 1995, studied with Coffman as a graduate student and was his teaching assistant for the introductory course.

“A lot of what I tell my students are things I learned from him,” she said. “It was wonderful how he enriched my teaching,” she said, recalling how anecdotes that were rooted in Coffman’s study of the life of Charles Darwin helped make Darwin “a real person” to students.

Coffman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012 and did not teach during the fall term.

Roberts described Coffman as a traditional “tweed jacket with leather patches” professor who was kind and reasonable toward his students. “I didn’t really think about the impact of him not coming back,” she said, noting that undergraduates had been expecting to see him in the classroom this term for the Foundations II course.

As a mentor, Coffman “always had my back,” Roberts said.

“It’s almost like you’ve lost a warm quilt on a cold night. It’s one less layer of comfort between you and the hard cold world,” she said.

“He was a gentleman, a scholar, a good friend and a mentor.”

Colleague Walter Carson remembered Coffman as “a lovable but cantankerous and surly character. He was often grumpy but in a sort of fun way,” Carson said, adding that Coffman genuinely liked spending time with his students and loved to teach.

Outside the classroom, in addition to his interest in history, Coffman enjoyed classical music and stamp collecting.

Following Coffman’s diagnosis, colleagues worked to transfer his extensive collections to the La Selva Biological Station of the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica, which is directed by one of Coffman’s former students, Carlos de la Rosa.

Carson said, “De la Rosa understood Bill’s idiosyncratic method of cataloging the specimens, so he was one of the few people who could decipher Bill’s work. More importantly, many of the specimens were from all over Costa Rica so they will be valuable in water quality monitoring there and also serve as a valuable tool to train young scientists.”

Carson emphasized the importance of Coffman’s collection. “It is safe to say the collection is one of the largest, if not the largest: It will take years for scientists to comb through it but I have no doubt new species to science are present. The abundance of any species of midge provides an indication of stream quality.

“Certain midges occur in more pristine streams while different ones are found in impacted or polluted streams. Dr. Coffman took precise notes about where he collected his specimens wherever he was in the world collecting. Thus, years later, scientists can return to the exact stream and location and see the degree that midge species have changed.

“Perhaps more importantly, the collection serves a huge reservoir of known species that have been identified from locations all over the world — a benchmark, if you will, to compare species that are found today.”

De la Rosa, who earned his bachelor’s degree and PhD at Pitt, said, “Dr. Coffman embodied for me the best example of a scientist fully committed to his science, regardless of what others thought. His curiosity was boundless and went well beyond the boundaries of continents and languages.

“Even though he traveled quite a bit early in his career, he once told me that he traveled vicariously through the samples that I, and others, sent him from the remote corners of the world [where] our work took us. As he lovingly picked out from samples the tiny specimens to identify, he could see and imagine the streams, the forests around them, and the environments they flowed through from looking at the collected debris found on those little alcohol-preserved jars that we would send him.”

He added, “Bill was also an articulate teacher, demanding but patient. His introductory courses were often lost in the youth of the students that took them, his brilliant conclusions and thoughts at times too polished for beginners. However, the advanced courses I took with him were deep and difficult, but incredibly rewarding.

“But perhaps what taught me more than years of courses and classes were the hours spent in the lab working side by side with him, listening to classical music, pausing occasionally to share a unique specimen or feature and discuss its significance, which I never have forgotten.”

De la Rosa called Coffman “one of the last true taxonomists,” willing to spend years analyzing a group of insects, bit by bit, until he gained understanding. “They don’t teach what he knew anymore, anywhere.  It is a great loss that his last years of teaching were not better used in letting him share his knowledge of the midge family, rather than teaching introductory courses to biology freshmen.

“His collection spans the globe; more than 100,000 specimens, perhaps 1,000 undescribed, unnamed species, many from the tropics. His specimens, his notes, sketches and bibliographic references are unmatched and priceless. I only hope to be able to fully learn to understand its scope and to be able to add to it, filling in more pieces of the life puzzle he so thoroughly initiated and built.”

Coffman is survived by his wife of 47 years, Paulette Behner Coffman; daughters Kendal Kadylak and Mara McManus; son Stephan Coffman; sister Lois Knabb, and six grandchildren.

The family suggests memorial donations be made to the La Selva Biological Station (www.ots.ac.cr).

—Kimberly K. Barlow