Dr. James Alexander Slater, Ph.D.Dr. James Alexander Slater, 88, of Rockford, died at 9:10 P.M. Sunday, November 2, 2008. He was born January 10, 1920, in Belvidere, the son of Ray Alvin and Gladys Banks Slater. On February 20, 1943, he married Elizabeth Anne Thackston in St. Louis, MO. A Navy veteran of WW II, Dr. Slater served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theatres of Operation. Dr. Slater was Professor of Entomology at the University of Connecticut—Storrs from 1953-88. While at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Slater served as head of the zoology and entomology departments, head of the section of systematics and ecology and biological sciences group, and head of the section of systematic and evolutionary biology, biological sciences group. Dr. Slater also served as president of the Society of Systematic Zoology, the Connecticut Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, the National Milk Glass Collectors Society, and the Connecticut Entomological Society as well as vice president of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Association for Gravestone Studies. He was a member of many worldwide entomological societies and served as Connecticut state ornithologist. He was a prolific writer about Hemiptera and was the author of A Catalogue of the Lygaeidae of the World (1964) as well as books on milk glass and colonial gravestones. Dr. Slater was an avid researcher and collected insects in Africa, Australia, Central America, and the West Indies.Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth; children James A. (Geraldine Gibbon-Slater) Slater II, Lawrence, KS; Jacquelyn Rae (John Alan) Neil-Boss, Belvidere; Samuel Thackston (Nicki Hall) Slater, West Hartland, CT; and Lydia Ann Slater-Hintzsche, Poplar Grove; grandchildren Alexander Wolpe, Rockford, and Rae Wolpe, Cape Town, South Africa; two great-grandchildren Luka and Hannah Wolpe, both of Cape Town, South Africa; and cousin Carol Slater Rowe, Belvidere.

Memorials in his name may be made to the Arc of Winnebago, Boone, and Ogle Counties.