Bud Owre|Faculty Highlights | College of Arts and Sciences
Sibling Scholars
Generations of students benefited from the Owre brothers’ expertise, guidance, and dedication
By Jordan Rogers
The College of Arts & Sciences shares a fascinating connection with Jacob Riis, the Danish American journalist famous for his photography exposing the squalid conditions of New York City tenements at the turn of the 20th century. His two grandsons, who were scions of the Owres, a prominent Minneapolis family, pursued academic careers at the fledgling University in its early years.
Each a legend in his own right, brothers Jacob Riis Owre and Oscar Theodore Owre carved out niches in the College as they realized their academic objectives in Spanish and ornithology, respectively.
Like nearly half of the University’s faculty at the time, the brothers’ story runs through their military service during the country’s World War II wartime efforts.
Bud Owre (1917-1990)
An undated photo of Bud Owre in his office. Photo credit: Courtesy of Florida Field Naturalist
Oscar Theodore Owre, known as Bud, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University in 1941. Upon graduation, he joined the Navy for the duration of World War II, serving as a lieutenant commander and seaplane pilot in the Pacific Theater. There, on his own, he used his time aloft to observe albatrosses, which later informed his research on the risks they posed to military aircraft. He was wounded in action and received multiple honors and medals for his efforts.
After the war, Bud Owre continued his studies, earning a master’s degree in zoology from the College and a Ph.D. in ornithology from the University of Michigan. He joined the College’s biology department in 1953 and became a pioneer in South Florida ornithology, publishing research on tropical avifauna in and beyond the region. He also created the University’s Bird Reference Collection, which supported his popular “Birds of the World” course. A dedicated conservationist, he led the Tropical Audubon Society and helped to create Biscayne National Park.
Students flocked to Bud Owre’s courses, competing for limited seats in his undergraduate ornithology class. “Dr. Owre was a gentle man and a gentleman, a teacher of ornithology but also of life,” recalled James Kushlan, a former student. “His laboratory was in the field. He would lead his students through swamps and rainforests to study birds, but also to learn about themselves and about life. The extra ingredient that made him such an extraordinary teacher was his wonderous sense of play.”
A consummate practical joker, Bud Owre often played harmless tricks on students and fellow faculty members, such as asking them to find an imaginary “frog” whose calls he faked using a device hidden in his jacket pocket and keeping an empty aquarium that he told students contained an invisible fish. He served as the inaugural Robert E. Maytag Professor of Ornithology from 1969 until his retirement in 1984.
