Charles A. Triplehorn was born in Bluffton, Ohio on October 27,1927 to Murray and Alice Triplehorn and passed away on August 25, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio, surrounded by his family. He grew up in Bluffton, graduating from Bluffton High School in 1945. He was active in band and orchestra (slide trombone), a member of Thespians, appearing in a number of stage productions. He was on the football team, HiY (service club), Science Club (president), reporter for the school newspaper, and on the production staff of the yearbook.
He was active in Boy Scouts of America, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout with Silver Palm. Later, he served as Cubmaster of a pack in Wooster, Ohio, and as Scoutmaster of a troop in Upper Arlington, Ohio. He served two years as camp naturalist in Shawnee Council Camps in Defiance, Ohio.
He received his B.S. degree (1949) in Zoology and his M.S. degree (1952) in Entomology from The Ohio State University, and his PhD degree (1957) in Systematic Entomology from Cornell University. He was president of both the Columbus Entomological Society and the Ohio State Herpetological Society and was on both the football and wrestling teams at Ohio State. At Cornell, he was president of Jugatae (departmental seminar group).
He married Wanda Elaine Neiswander in 1949 and they had two sons: Bradley Alyn (1952) and Bruce Wayne (1957). Wanda passed away in 1985 after 36 years of marriage. He married Linda Sue Parsons in 1987 and celebrated 35 years of marriage.
During his undergraduate career at Ohio State, he served as Assistant Curator of Natural History at the Ohio State Museum and, after graduation, was the first naturalist for the Columbus Metropolitan Parks. He served briefly as the first curator of reptiles at the Columbus Zoo. Chuck was among the last of the great general naturalist. As a park naturalist, he knew the scientific names of plants, birds, reptiles, mammals and, of course, insects. It was always a learning experience being in the woods with him.
From 1952 to 1954, he was Assistant Professor of Entomology at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. From 1954 to 1957, he was a teaching assistant at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
From 1957 to 1961, he oversaw field crop research at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio. He moved down to Columbus in 1962, assuming the role of Curator of Insects, attaining to the rank of full professor in 1967. From 1964 to 1966, he held the position of Economic Entomologist on the Ohio State team of the Agency for International Development in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil and briefly worked with Food for Peace in Rio de Janeiro.
During his tenure on the Ohio State faculty, he published almost 120 scientific papers, mostly on the Tenebrionidae family of beetles and was coauthor on three editions of the widely acclaimed “An Introduction to the Study of Insects”. He was elected president of the North Central Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 1984 and of the parent society in 1985.
After retirement in 1992, he maintained an office and laboratory in the Museum of Biological Diversity on the Ohio State campus in the insect collection which is named for him and where he continued researching and publishing on his beetles.
He is survived by his wife, Linda Shelton Parsons Triplehorn, sons Brad (Romie) and Bruce (Lisa), stepson Steve (Steph), grandchildren Ronald (Helen), Justine (Ron), Josiah (Mindy), Daniel (Lorena), Maria (Branden), Jonathan (Lívia), step-grandchildren Chalyse, Ashley, and Haley, great-grandchildren Stone, Alma, Julia, Elliot, and Phillip, siblings John (Janice) and Lora (Jim). He was preceded in death by his brother, Don (Judee).
