Who was GP Wilder

	Gerrit Parmile Wilder passed away on September 28, 1935. Although very involved in a number of businesses, he was widely known as a horticulturalist, someone now known as a plant explorer. His Hawaiian name was "Kauka", meaning "Doctor", a name inherited from his grandfather, Dr. Gerrit Parmile Judd. Mr. Wilder was born in Honolulu, November 5, 1863. As a boy, he attended the Atkinson "Valley School" in Honolulu and O'ahu College (Punahou School). He studied in a private school in Boston in 1880 and 1881 and later married Lillian Kimball of Gloucester Massachusetts at Mills College, California in 1887.
	His mother, Elizabeth Kinau Wilder, the eldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Gerrit P. Judd, was born in Hawai'i in 1831 in the "Old Mission Home", the second white child born in Hawai'i. She passed away in 1918. His father, Samuel Garner Wilder, was born in 1831 in Leominster, Massachusetts, and came to Hawai'i in 1855, where he took a prominent place in business and politics until his death in 1888. S. G. Wilder was the Government Steamship Agent, then founder of Wilder's (Interisland) Steamship Company in 1883, builder of the first marine railway in Honolulu in 1894, and a promoter of railroad interests on Hawai'i and Maui.
	GP Wilder began his business career in 1882 at Mahukona on the island of Hawai'i, where he was an employee of the Hawaiian Railroad Company, then owned by his father. In 1884, he moved to Kahului Maui, where he held successive positions in the Kahului Railroad, eventually becoming President of the Railroad and manager of the shipping of the Wilder Steamship Company at Kahului. He retired from active business in 1898, serving however as President of the Estate of S. G. Wilder, Ltd., until his death.
	From 1898 until 1920, G. P. Wilder studied and worked intensively on Hawaiian plants. During journeys to the British West Indies, the Phillipines, the Malay States and elsewhere, he enlarged his knowledge of the tropical floras. Many useful and ornamental plants were introduced into Hawai'i, especially varieties of mangoes, mangosteens, avocados and papayas. Mr. Wilder collected taro and worked to develop varieties that could be more easily and successfully grown. He introduced varieties of hibiscus and through hybridization produced many new forms which became breeding stock for some of the currently established varieties. In 1920, Mr. Wilder was appointed Botanist on the staff of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, and subsequently extended his activities to most of the principal island groups of Polynesia - Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands and the Society Islands. In all, he visited and worked on 45 island of the archipelagoes. He is given credit for introducing what is now a favorite lei flower, known in Hawaiian as puakenikeni.
	In 1923, the University of Hawai'i conferred upon him the honorary degree of Masters of Science. Also that year, Mr. Wilder served as a member of the Tanager Expedition of Bishop Museum and represented the Museum at the Pacific Science Congress in Australia. On his return he spent a month in the study of plant life in Samoa and collected and analyzed certain Hawaiian plants said to possess medicinal properties. In 1924, he was a member of the Bishop Museum scientific staff accompanying Mr. & Mrs. Medford Kellum on the cruise of the yacht "Kaimiloa', visiting Fanning, Christmas, Malden and Tongareva Islands.
	The years 1926 and 1927 were spent in the Society and Cook Islands. In 1928 he spent much time in Honolulu in the study and propagation of plants collected.A study of the flora of Rarotonga was made in 1929, with field work there. In 1930 he spent three months at the University of California in a study of the plants collected in Rarotonga and later in the year made a visitn to the Hawaiian Bird Sanctuary on Laysan Island. In 1932 he visited the Society Island and Makatea, the northermost island in the Tuamotu Archipelago for the purposes of studying the flora. The publications resulting from this extensive field work and from his previous studies in Hawai'i are: "Fruits of the Hawaiian Islands" 1906; 1911; "The Breadfruit of Tahiti" (B.P. Bishop Mus., Bull 50: 1928); "Flora of Rarotonga (B.P. Bishop Mus., Bull 86: 1931); and "The Flora of Makatea" (B.P. Bishop Mus., Bull 120: 1934).
	Mr. Wilder was accompanied by his wife Lillian K. Wilder, in all his field work. As representatives of Bishop Museum, they not only made collections of plants, but also of valuable examples of native crafts and zoological specimens.
Mr. Wilder served as a member of the Territorial Board of Agriculture and Forestry in 1906 and up until the time of his death held the position of U. S. Deputy Reservation Protector, Hawaiian Islands Bird Sanctuary. He was Director of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce in 1915 and served in the regular and special session of the Hawaiian legislature in 1917-1918, being reelected in 1920 and 1922. He was responsible for new legislation protecting the natural resources of the islands and furthered many projects for the beautification of parks and gardens. He was influential in activities that resulted in the organization of the Outdoor Circle and the Honolulu Flower Society. In 1923, he was in charge of planting Sand Island at the entrance of Honolulu Harbor wit coconuts and hibiscus; before that time, it was a barren place. From 1918 Mr. Wilder served as field director of the American Red Cross for Honolulu. He was a Trustee of Queen's Hospital; served as Territorial Fair Commissioner; and was a member of Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriers, Hawaiian Historical Society; First president of Hawai'i Tuna Club; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London) and was active in a number of other organizations.