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Falkenbach, Charles H.

 Person

Biographical Note

Charles H. Falkenbach (1902-1962), who worked for the American Museum of Natural History for 46 years, was a pioneer in systematic stratigraphic vertebrate paleontology and a prolific contributor to the field. He was equally at home on expedition and in the laboratory. In taxonomic studies, colleagues regarded him as a "splitter" whereas he considered himself a "lumper". He was a specialist in creodonts. Falkenbach was born in N.Y.C. on April 1, 1902 and attended city schools. His father Charles and uncle Otto were skilled preparators in the Museum's VP lab and he apprenticed there with them from 1916 to 1920. The next year he joined the Frick Laboratory as a preparator and in 1924 became supervisor of the lab and a field assistant on expeditions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. He retired as Assistant Curator in the Frick Laboratory and Field and Laboratory Associate at the AMNH in 1962. He died July 8, 1962 at his home in Sante Fe, N.M.