Chuck graduated from Florida State University in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in English education. He taught English at Miami Central High School for two years before joining the South Dade News Leader in Homestead as a staff writer covering such subjects as religion, agriculture, history, and the environment. In 1976, he moved on to The Sun-Tattler, the Scripps-Howard daily newspaper in Hollywood, Florida. There, he served first as a copy editor and garden editor, then as entertainment editor. In the latter job, he reviewed films and stage plays and interviewed celebrities.
In 1984, Chuck joined the staff of the American Orchid Society as assistant editor of the society's publications when the organization moved its national headquarters to West Palm Beach. He eventually became editor of the AOS Bulletin and the Awards Quarterly. In that position, he greatly improved the look and contents of those publications. Chuck now works as a copy editor with the Broward Edition of The Miami Herald at its headquarters in Pembroke Pines.
Chuck has written extensively about orchids for such publications as the AOS Bulletin (now Orchids), The Florida Orchidist, The Orchid Digest, England's Orchid Review, the Fairchild Tropical Garden Bulletin, and The Palmetto, the magazine of the Florida Native Plant Society.
Chuck is especially interested in the native orchids of southern Florida. For 30 years, he has followed in the footsteps of Dr. Carlyle A. Luer, author of The Native Orchids of Florida, exploring the pinelands, hammocks, swamps and mangrove forests of the Keys, Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress Swamp in search of our native orchids. He has found and photographed most of the 60 species reported to be native to this end of the state.
Chuck also has studied orchids and other wildflowers in the mountains of western North Carolina, where he owns a small summer cabin at Granny Squirrel Gap. He has written about the orchids of that region as well.
In addition to his magazine articles, Chuck speaks frequently to orchid societies, garden clubs, native plant societies, and natural history groups about the orchids and other wildflowers of South Florida and the Southern Appalachians, illustrating these programs with his color slides.
Chuck has been a member of the American Orchid Society since 1976 and is a longtime member of the Florida Native Plant Society. |
