Patricia Jackson DeCoursey

Dr. DeCoursey was born in Madison, Wisconsin on December 28, 1932, the first born of triplet girls. The family lived innovatively through the severe “Great Depression’, in native Indian style by tenting summers in the nearby Quetico Wilderness and harvesting fish and wildlife then moving back to a simple log cabin in Madison, Wisconsin for the cold season.

Pat attended grade school until 4th grade, then moved to Washington DC where her mother worked as a paralegal employee in the WPA (Works Projects Administration). Pat continued her wilderness loves. She received both Cornell University National Scholarship and a New York State Regent Scholarship for the complete 4 years. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude. She completed her MS and PhD in zoology and biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and then carried out postdoctoral research with Jurgen Aschoff at the Max-Planck Institute of Behavioral Physiology in Erling-Andechs, Germany. Dr. DeCoursey was a member in 1985 of the original Organizing Committee for both the Journal of Biological Rhythms and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. She served two terms as SRBR’s Secretary, and had been active on the Advisory Boards of both groups. Her career-long interests in chronobiology have centered on behavioral, physiological and ecological aspects of circadian rhythms, primarily in mammals.

She met her future husband, George, at Cornell also majoring in ornithology. She moved in 1964 with her husband to Washington State University as a Research Professor. In 1967 they moved to the University of South Carolina; George was appointed Associate Professor of Physiology and Pat as Research Professor of Behavioral Physiology.

After George’s death of cancer in 1970, Pat progressed through academic ranks to Senior Professor of Biology at the University of South Carolina. Her curricula vitae lists 110 scientific research publications, 3 scientific books on Animal Behavior and Biological Timing. Her work has been supported by prestigious research grants; she has lectured on biological timing several hundred times as well as serving on Science Foundation Panels for 10 years. She spent many years working and supporting the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum in Columbia, retiring in 2019.

Dr. DeCoursey is survived by her daughter, Cynthia DeCoursey Calvin (John), her triplet sister, Phyllis J. Kane of Washington DC and her identical twin sister, Cynthia J. Fisher (Asmer) of New Paltz, New York.

She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, George, and her son, Mark.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Thursday, January 6, at 11:00 a.m. Visitation will be held in the Good Shepherd Room at 10:00 prior to the service. All are welcome to visit the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum following the service at 4080 Bloomwood Road, Columbia, SC 29205. Inurnment will take place in the spring at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley, New York.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Endowment Fund of the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum Fund B11336, 1600 Hampton Street, Suite 736, Columbia, SC 29208.