David B. Wake, a pioneer in the fields of evolutionary morphology, evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and organismal diversification, died on 29 April. He was 84. Wake was a career-long visionary in organismal biology who led evolutionary biologists to examine not only how organisms are different but also how they become different. As a graduate student, he set the framework for his career by detailing the evolutionary relationships and morphological diversity of salamanders. He then delved into functional morphology (how organismal structures work), evolutionary development (how developmental pathways influence diversification of form), and speciation (how species come to be). One of the most influential and integrative biodiversity scientists of his era, Dave was boundlessly curious about all aspects of evolution and unusually open-minded about new techniques and analyses.
Dave was born on 8 June 1936 and raised in South Dakota. He attended Pacific Lutheran College in Ta