UGA professor and ecology pioneer Eugene Odum dies

ATHENS, Ga. - Former University of Georgia professor Eugene Odum, a pioneer in the field of ecology, died Saturday. He was 88.<br> <br> Clarke County Coroner Randy Garrett said Odum, who was discovered in his Athens home Saturday afternoon, most likely died of a heart attack.<br> <br> Odum, who was the first director of the school&#39;s Institute of Ecology after its founding in 1960, published an ecology textbook that was considered revolutionary when it first appeared in 1953 because it treated the ecosystem as an integrated whole rather than separate components.<br> <br> Revised editions of the text are still used in college classrooms, said Betty Jean Craige, a Georgia literature professor who wrote a biography of Odum. Craige said Odum and university ecologist Gary Barrett finished updating the book again only a few weeks before Odum&#39;s death.<br> <br> In 1970, Odum became the first member of the Georgia faculty to be named to the National Academy of Sciences. Odum and his brother, Howard, also an ecologist, received awards for their work from the French and Swedish governments.<br> <br> The university will hold a memorial service for Odum within the next several weeks, Craige said.<br>