David Daniel Keck was an American botanist who was notable for his work on angiosperm taxonomy and genetics.

Keck was born in Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

. He completed undergraduate studies at Pomona College

Pomona College

Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

 in 1925 and was awarded a Ph.D. in botany from the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 in 1930. From 1925 to 1950 he was based at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 where he worked on plant species concepts with Jens Clausen

Jens Clausen

Jens Christen Clausen was a Danish-American botanist, geneticist, and ecologist. He is considered a pioneer in the field of ecological and evolutionary genetics of plants.-Biography:Clausen was born in Eskilstrup, Denmark...

 and William Hiesey

William Hiesey

William McKinley Hiesey was an American botanist who specialized in ecological physiology. He was notable for his collaboration with Jens Clausen and David D. Keck at Stanford University in the 1930s...

. In 1950 he was appointed head curator of the New York Botanical Garden

New York Botanical Garden

- See also :* Education in New York City* List of botanical gardens in the United States* List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City- External links :* official website** blog*...

 and remained there until 1958. In 1959, he co-published A California Flora with Philip A. Munz

Philip A. Munz

Philip A. Munz, botanist, taxonomist and educator , of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, was Professor of Botany at Pomona College, serving as Dean for three years....

. He was Program Director for Systematic Biology at the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

 until 1970, after which he moved to New Zealand. He returned to the United States in 1978 and lived in Medford, Oregon

Medford, Oregon

Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...

.