Freek Vrugtman
Freek Vrugtman (6 July 1927 – 3 March 2022) was a Canadian botanist and horticulturist. Vrugtman was Curator at both University of British Columbia Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. For 45 years he served as the International Registrar for Hybrid Cultivars of Lilacs in the Genus Syringa. Early life Vrugtman was born on 6 July 1927 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His early education was interrupted by World War II. After the war he apprenticed at a tree nursery and then trained in gardening in Germany. He emigrated to Canada in 1952 and first worked on a farm in Donegal, Ontario and then as a gardener at Manitoba’s Morden Research and Development Centre. He crisscrossed the country to follow opportunities, becoming a nurseryman in Ocean Park, British Columbia, a gardener at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa, Ontario, and a landscape foreman for a paper mill in Quebec. Education Vrugtman completed a Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA) degree at University of British Columbia in 1963 with a major in ornamental horticulture and plant taxonomy. He earned his Master of Science degree at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Career Vrugtman was