Bob D. Whitman

Bob D. Whitman, 55, lost a sudden and unexpected battle with cancer on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at his home in Beaumont, TX.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at the Beaumont Botanical Gardens on Sunday, July 12, 2009, at 2:00 p.m.

Bob is preceded in death by his father, Russell W. Whitman. He is survived by his mother, Ingeborg M. Whitman, brother, Clint W. Whitman and wife, Sandy, and brother, Scott W. Whitman, all of Mauriceville, TX.

Bob was Executive Director for the Beaumont Botanical Gardens, up until early May 2009, when he tendered is resignation due to health reasons. In addition, Bob held the position of American Rabbit Breeders Association ARBA, District 4 Director, representing the states of Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Bob had two passions in life…plants and animals…both of which, for those that knew him, would say he sometimes took to the extreme. Bob's home is a virtual shrine to any and all things having to do with rabbits, and is currently featured in the magazine, Rabbits USA 2009, Fancy Publications, in an article titled, "Fascinated By Rabbits". Bob was a prolific writer on the subject of rabbits. He recently had two books published: Domestic Rabbits & Their Histories – Breeds of the World, and 1001 Ways To Cook Rabbits. Bob wrote a monthly column for the magazine, Fur & Feather of England, and wrote a bi-monthly column entitled "Historically Speaking", for the ARBA magazine, Domestic Rabbits, his last column was on the history of Holland, Mini and American Fuzzy Lops, with the help and support of his sister-in-law, Sandy Whitman. Bob had recently agreed to write a book on rabbits for BowTie Press, for their Hobby Farm series, but was unable to complete it due to his illness. Bob also had a web site where he wrote about rabbits: www.rarebitsandpieces.com .

The following is a collection pieces written by friends, and Bob himself, that share more about his life and accomplishments:

1 As mentioned above, Bob was the ARBA District 4 Director. The following is what he wrote about himself to campaign for re-election to the position:

CANDIDATE BOB D. WHITMAN
My name is Bob D. Whitman and I am running for my third term as District 4 Director which represents the states of AR, CO, NM, OK, and TX. My home has been in Beaumont, Texas for the last 41 years. I joined the ARBA on March 5, 1968, which makes me a member for 41 years with a Life membership number of 488.
Having joined the ARBA as a youth, I was extremely active. My accomplishments include founding the Golden Triangle Youth RC, President and Secretary of the Texas Youth RC, ARBA Youth District Director, Texas Rabbit King and Judging winner in 1969, Texas Youth Breeder of the Year in 1970, ARBA King in 1970, ARBA Judging winner in 1971 and Youth Convention Chairperson. In 1971, I was able to have the Governors of Texas and New Mexico issue proclamations for State Rabbit Week. I also imported English and French Lops from Scotland in 1971, as these breeds were extremely rare in the US at that time. I received my rabbit registrars license on the day that I graduated from high school 1972, becoming the youngest in the nation at that time. My first national convention was in Calgary, Canada, in 1969, where I had the honor of getting to know many of the great founding fathers of the ARBA.
My involvement on the national level has been numerous; charter member of the Lop Rabbit Club of America President 1975-76, charter member of American Beveren RC Sec-Treas, American Himalayan Rabbit Club VP, founder of the Rhinelander RC of America Sec-Treas, Hotot Rabbit Club Int'lSec-Treas, North American Lionhead RC President and Vice Pres. and current President of the American Thrianta Breeders Assn. My rabbitry is called Rare Bits & Pieces.
Rabbits took a back seat for a couple of years as I took a job in Saudi Arabia, but before returning to the states, I imported two shipments of Blanc de Hotots large Hotots in 1978 and was able to get them recognized by the ARBA. I have raised two breeds of cavies and 28 of our recognized breeds of rabbits, plus 12 breeds of rabbits not recognized in the US. This has led me to my passion concerning our rare and endangered rabbit breeds and the preservation of those rabbits. My interest was in preserving the Enderby Island Rabbit which I imported to this country and started breeding; but, I quickly found that more individuals needed to take an interest in what was needed for preservation because a few individuals could not do these projects alone.

In September of 2002, I began working in earnest with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ALBC to have rabbits accepted into their organization. To me variety is the spice of life, and if I could, I would be keeping every breed as I enjoy working and promoting all breeds of rabbits. Each breed is unique in it's own way. In the 2 1/2 years of campaigning for the recognition of these endngered breeds, they were finally recognized as a viable source of our American heritage. I documented the populations of breeds of rabbits recognized in this country and around the world which are either rare or endangered to have them added to the ALBC list of animals. This involved world wide research with rabbit groups from different countries. This project has been continuous with yearly updates and research. One of the benefits has been the expansion of breeders taking an interest in these breeds and for the past 7 years some of these rabbit populations have grown. Through my involvement with the ALBC and ARBA, I am now a consultant on a DNA project to trace the origins of several rabbit breeds through DNA testing. This will enable rabbits to be truly recognized for their purity, something which has never been done. When this is completed we will have genetic evidence of the origins of some of our modern breeds of rabbits from those ancient population of rabbits.
Rabbit and cavy history has been a passion of mine for over 40 years. I collect old books, prints, artifacts, and collectibles on rabbits and cavies. This led me to write Domestic Rabbits & Their Histories – Breeds of the World and the largest rabbit cookbook ever published, 1001 Ways to Cook Rabbit-The Complete Domestic Rabbit Cookbook. I currently write a bi-monthly column for the Domestic-Rabbit magazine and have been published in several other rabbit magazines both nationally and world-wide. When I was the ARBA Library Chairperson, I raised over $15, 000 for the library to purchase of a huge book collection from England which makes the cornerstone of our ARBA Hall of Fame Library. It is the world's largest collection of rabbit and cavy literature, even outnumbering the Library of Congress and the U.S. Agricultural Library by several thousand pieces. In 2000, I secured a generous $13, 000 donation to purchase two used trailers for our ARBA equipment for future convention and shows.
I am have been commissioned by a New Jersey publisher to write another book - Hobby Farms: Rabbits. This project is underway for the rabbit hobbyist. My third publication is an cumulative index of all 37 volumes of the Domestic Rabbits magazine. It is a ready-reference guide for readers and staff. Although I enjoy rabbits, my true passion is preserving, through art, literature, and documentation, the history and evolution of rabbits and cavys today.
I have the necessary time to continue to dedicate myself to the duties as your district director. I am also available to any club for their historical questions. You can always be assured of a prompt response to any inquiries. I am always there to vote on all issues brought before the board, and I strive to keep our district informed of what is happening within the ARBA. When we hosted the Fort Worth convention in 2006, I was able to secure the most donations for any convention ever held.
Horticulture is another great passion of mine. I ran a tropical plant business for over 20 years, collecting throughout the jungles of Central and South America and Northern Australia for new plants to introduce to horticulture. I have discovered new plants never seen by man, many of which have been named in my honor. I have also created nearly 300 new tropical hybrids, mostly in the genus cryptanthus. I am an internationally accredited master bromiliad judge and have founded one international plant society. I have done close to 300 lectures and judging assignments coast to coast and abroad. I have recently retired as Executive Director of the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. As the Executive Director, I raised funds, designed and built the second largest tropical plant conservatory in Texas, The Warren Loose Conservtory, which displays various theme gardens from throughout the world., But my proudest accomplishment was designing and building the first memorial for the victims of 9/11 in our nation which included soil from all three crash sites entombed into the design. This was dedicated on 6/22/02.
If you want a District 4 director with national experience who is sincere and who will continue to listen to your needs as a membership and who will work for you, I am ready to again serve. Remember to cast your vote in the election!
Bob D. Whitman

2 The following is a list of rabbit related accomplishments provided by close friend, Carrol Hooks:

- Accomplishments of Bob Whitman:
- Member of the ARBA since March 5, 1968.
- Awarded the honor of ARBA King in 1969.
- Texas RBA at the 2009 TRBA State Show presented him with an award recognizing him as ARBA King 40 years ago this year and for his various accomplishments on behalf of the rabbit industry though out his many years of service.
- The youngest person to receive an ARBA Registrars License at that time.
- Presented the standard Hotot for recognition by the ARBA and was successful.
- Was instrumental in founding the standard Hotot Rabbit Club of America.
- Life member of the Hotot Rabbit Breeders International.
- Patriot and life member of the Enderby Island Rabbit Club of New Zealand.
- Honorary member of the Rabbit Club of New Zealand.
- Founding member of the Lop Rabbit Club of America.
- Founding member of the Rhinelander Rabbit Club of America.
- Founding and life member of the American Thrianta RBA.
- Current President of the American Thrianta Club.
- Served as President of the Lionhead Club of American.
- Instrumental in building interest in rare breeds of rabbit not only in this country but also abroad.
- Is responsible for the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ALBC accepting breeds of rabbits, not as livestock, but as a way of preserving their heritage and responsible for even calling them rare breeds. Did the counting world wide by going to all the show records in all countries and contacting all world specialty clubs to get the information .
- Was scheduled to speak at the ALBC conference this year.
- Has imported more new rabbit breeds to this country than any other individual.
- Has served as ARBA District 4 Director for two 2 terms and filed petition for 3rd. term
- Throughout the years has served on various ARBA Committees, including Chair of the ARBA Library, devoting countless hours at the ARBA office working on the ARBA Library.
- Raised the funds to secure the largest collection of rabbit literature in the world for the ARBA Library. This collection is larger than both the Library of Congress and the National Livestock Library.
- Has been a cornerstone of the ARBA Domestic Rabbit magazine, writing the column "Historically Speaking". Each issue this column is anxiously anticipated by our membership.
- Instrumental in raising more money for the ARBA Conventions than any other person.
- As a fund raiser for the ARBA, wrote the cumulative index of every issue of the DR.
- Secured the donation of $13, 000 to ARBA in order to buy two 2 used equipment trailers.
- Wrote for Fur and Feather as a featured writer for many issues.
- When rabbits were accepted by ALBC he worked to get them recognized by SLOW foods which is the heritage food group to get American Chinchillas featured and promote rabbit meat.
- Author of "Domestic Rabbits & Their Histories - Breeds of the World".
- Traced the complete history of the ARBA from the beginning.
- Wrote "1001 Ways To Cook Rabbit, The Complete Domestic Rabbit Cook Book", which is the largest cookbook ever written on the Domestic Rabbit, 362 pages.
- After 2-1/2 years of work, realized his goal of having the ALBC recognize the rabbit as livestock.
- Wrote an eight 8 page article in Rabbits USA 2009, on his devotion to domestic rabbits and his outstanding collections/artifacts of rabbits.
- Served as a consultant to the ALBC on a program to perform DNA cultures on breeds of rabbit to trace back to the originating breeds.
- Had been commissioned to write a book on the "Hobby of Rabbit Farming".
- Has willed his entire rabbit collection/artifacts to the ARBA Library.



3 The following is a summary of Bob's accomplishments pertaining to his work at the Beaumont Botanical Garden, provided by close friend, Sharon Odegar:

Early in 2009, Bob told me that this would be the 25th year that he had been involved with the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. Twenty-five years ago the Golden Triangle Bromeliad Society became a member of the Beaumont Council of Garden Clubs. That was when Bob began his creative influence on the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. Bob served as President of the Beaumont Council of Garden Clubs from April, 1999 through April, 2001; he also served as Landscape Chairman for many years. Keep in mind that all of his time and talent was given freely on a non-paid volunteer basis until September 1, 2001 when he was hired as the first Executive Director of the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. His influence continued up until his recent illness. On May 7, 2009, the day before he went into the hospital, Bob was riding around in the golf cart pointing out what needed to be done in the gardens, and where to plant the new trees.

In 1986 The Garden Council, urged by Warren Loose, held its first Spring Garden Tour. Bob was there to help organize this initial event and assisted with this fund raiser every year until the last one in 2005.

The fall of 1990 Bob presented an idea to the Garden Council suggesting development of a centrally located knoll into a Japanese Garden. The Garden Council approved the design. Bob and Warren worked their magic on the area and six months later, on April 21, 1991, a beautiful Japanese Garden was dedicated. In spite of heavy damage by several hurricanes, the peaceful Japanese Garden is still there for the enjoyment of everyone.

In May, 1993 Bob proposed the building of a conservatory in memory of Warren Loose, who had contributed many hours to improve the gardens. The Council approved and Bob was asked to pursue the endeavor. Which he did with dedication and vigor! In December 1994 formal plans were presented. February, 1997 the City Council approved the design and the project. Bob oversaw the design, secured bids, raised funding, oversaw construction, ordered the rain-forest plants, supervised planting -- whatever had to be done, Bob found a way. He even traveled to Mexico to purchase special limestone railings and posts, and tiles. On September 7, 1997 this wonderful facility was dedicated. Later Bob was instrumental in acquiring the donation of a large collection of bromeliads in addition to the all of the plants he had donated.

Next came the planning for a Horticultural Center building to be an entry to the Conservatory. Fund raising again became a main focus. In September, 1998 the first donation was received. Early in 1999 a large donation was received, which allowed plans to go forward. In the fall of 1999 construction began on the Bert & Jack Binks Horticultural Center. It was dedicated on February 14, 2000, the Binks' 50th Wedding Anniversary. This project was overseen by Bob from beginning to end. Bob also loaned, and donated a large collection of original botanical artwork for display in the building. He found special carved crown molding for the office, a beautiful large piece of stained glass to surround the fountain, and a wonderful artistic ceramic arch to frame the doorway to the entry hall to the Conservatory. Over the years Bob added other touches to the building: Wardian Cases, a Victorian era bird cage, and the world's largest seed!

Shortly after Bob became the first Executive Director of the Gardens, the horrible tragedy of September 11, 2001 occurred. Bob and some other members contemplated the tragedy and decided a large memorial should be planned for the Beaumont Gardens. Bob immediately began planning an appropriate memorial. He came up with a complete design in a few hours. It was as if he had a picture in his mind with symbolism to represent all three crash locations. Fund raising was started the next day. Bob set a very aggressive schedule. Groundbreaking was held March 2, 2002 so that a New York City Firefighter visiting Beaumont could take part. Completion of the Memorial and Dedication was set for June 22, 2002 -- exactly 9 months and 11 days after the tragedy. This is probably one of the first sizable memorials dedicated to this event. Many people worked hard on this project but Bob was the driving force.

Hurricane Rita in 2005 was the most devastating event to ever befall the Gardens. She knocked down or heavily damaged 77 trees, the Conservatory and Propagation House lost their walls and roofs. sidewalks were torn up by tree roots or later by heavy equipment removing trees. It was a major task, but Bob took on this challenge and led the gardens back on a road to recovery. Recovery was interrupted by several other storms that hit the area, so some things are ongoing.

Other smaller projects Bob was instrumental in completing:
The Bromeliad Society designed and constructed a Bromeliad Display Garden in 1992. Of course, Bob assisted with this project, since bromeliads and cryptanthus were his specialty.

1994 - He designed T-shaped Pergolas to support grape vines over the walk to the Gazebo. Helped design and build Violet's Garden.

Vi's Fountain with the new brick Beaumont Botanical Gardens sign was dedicated on September 28, 1996, Bob had a hand in the design of this entry area and the sign.

In 1999 Bob designed and secured several wrought iron structures to be installed in the Camellia and Rose Gardens.

Memorial Garden for Marydell Scott proposed October 22, 1999, dedicated June 17, 2000

A Plaza in honor of Dr. Russell Long was designed and overseen by Bob.

Secret Garden in honor of long-time members Myra & Vernon Clay, designed garden and created glass artwork.

November, 1999, oversaw construction of new foyer added to the front of the Garden Center Building.

April 2000 -- planning for the Bob D. Whitman Propagation Greenhouse. Again Bob secured bids and oversaw the planning and construction.

The Easter Bunny & Friends -- Easter of 2002 and 2003. Bob furnished his special rabbits for a display and a special appearance of the Easter Bunny for pictures. Some of the T.V. reporters had so much fun we thought that was all they would have on the news that day!! The children attending loved this fun event. This was another life-long passion of Bob's. In high school he was fondly known as "King Rabbit" because of his many top prize winning entries in State Fairs.

Bob was an expert in the field of cryptanthus and bromeliads. He did extensive work on identification and hybridizing in this field. He was internationally known and lectured and judged shows coast to coast in the USA as well as Australia.

Bob Whitman served the gardens well over the years. His artistic touch can be seen throughout the gardens. He never tired of researching plants and picking the newest or rarest or most spectacular specimen to incorporate into the gardens. He had a great talent for seeing a vision and accomplishing that vision. He always said he liked to spend other people's money, but he could get more out of that money than you would believe!! He watched the budget closely and negotiated bids so that every penny counted. The unpaid hours Bob gave to the gardens as a volunteer and as Director are priceless, nothing could pay for such dedication. Bob Whitman left a gift for everyone who ever steps into the Beaumont Botanical Gardens -- it is a gift of peace and beauty for them to enjoy.


Bob will be missed by the many that met and knew him.