Ernest Lepage

Ernest Lepage

Ernest Lepage, priest and botanist (b near Rimouski, Qué 1 June 1905; d there 4 Jan 1981). Lepage was an assistant parish priest until 1933 and then taught at the École moyenne d'agriculture in Rimouski 1936-61. In 1943 he began his professional association with a fellow Oblate, Arthème Dutilly, and his long concentration on arctic and subarctic flora. Their annual trips, 1945-64, which focused for the most part on the James Bay region, were documented in extensive publications, while their personal herbariums grew constantly.

Despite health problems, Lepage continued his regional botanizing and his writing until he suffered partial paralysis from a thrombosis in 1976. He left his herbarium and botanical library to Laval. Although Lepage left no individual disciples the herbaria, writings and archives of Dutilly and Lepage contributed enormously to botanical knowledge in Canada.