Dr. Elizabeth (Betty) Davidson graduated from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio in 1964 and received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in entomology (insects) from The Ohio State University in 1967 and 1971, respectively.

She continued at Ohio State as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow until 1972 at which time she became an Instructor in the Department of Biology at the University of Rochester in New York while the family was on study leave that year.

In 1973 she joined the Zoology Dept. at Arizona State University in Tempe as Faculty Research Associate. In addition to research, she taught a course on Professional Values in Science at ASU for 20 years. As the years went by, the Zoology Department was renamed the School of Life Sciences and she retired in 2018 from there as Research Professor.

While at ASU, she was also a Visiting Research Professor or Scientist at the Department of Zoology at Cambridge University in the UK, at the University of Zürich in Switzerland, and at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Other visiting positions were at the USDA European Biocontrol Laboratory in Montpellier, France and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology at the National University of Singapore.

Growing up in Ohio at her dad’s berry patch and visiting his favorite fishing lake in Canada, Betty became interested in insects and pest control. At Ohio State she worked on a disease of honey bees. After the family moved to Arizona in 1973, her research progressed to diseases of whiteflies, mosquitoes, amphibians, and invasive crayfish. Of all of these, Betty is best recognized for her research on microbial control of mosquitoes, namely with Bacillus sphaericus. Her pioneering research on the identification of toxins produced by this bacterium led to its eventual development and registration as a microbial mosquito control agent.

Betty published many scientific papers, authored two books, coauthored another, and co-edited still four more. One of her two books, entitled Big fleas Have Little Fleas: Why diseases of lower animals are important to mankind received the 2008 Award for Outstanding Academic Publication by the Association of College and Research Libraries. The other, a childrens’ book entitled Cheery, The true adventures of a Chiricahua Leopard Frog, is about recovery efforts for the leopard frog. It also received an award as an Arizona winner from the National Book Festival Best 52 reads in 2013. In addition to her professional activities, Betty became an avid gardener, growing vegetables and lettuce that she used in her lunches and for cooking. She also took up playing the piano, something she had not been able to do while growing up.

While pleased with her research, Betty was always looking for ways to help students in need of a project or guidance. When shifts in faculty positions left a graduate student without an advisor, she would champion his/her cause and assume the duties of research advisor. Three of these went on to get combined MD/PhD credentials and now pursue successful careers in medicine and research. There were over 70 other students and colleagues that Betty helped along the way. She was so proud of each of them. She used to say “These are my Nobel Prize.” She passed on that love of helping others to her son, Scott, who is a middle school teacher.

Betty had two ‘other families’, both of which provided camaraderie. One was the Dayspring Chorale at Dayspring United Methodist Church, the choir where she sang for over 35 years. On their many summer tours, the Chorale traveled to different parts of Europe and sang in beautiful historic cathedrals. The other was the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, her principal professional society where she served on many boards and committees, was elected to several offices, including President from 1990-92. She also served as Local Arrangements Chair for two SIP Annual Conferences held in Arizona. The Society helped satisfy her passion for travel by holding many of its Annual Conferences in other countries.

Betty is survived by her husband, her son, and grandson.

A service to celebrate her life will be held at 10:30 am Saturday, May 6 at Dayspring United Methodist Church, 1365 East Elliot Rd., Tempe, Arizona.

Donations may be made in her name to Dayspring United Methodist Church in Tempe, Arizona or to the Society for Invertebrate Pathology in Marceline, Missouri.