Background
Whitaker was born August 14, 1904, in Monrovia, California. He grew up on a farm and worked his way through college, graduating from University of California, Davis in 1927 with a bachelor of science degree.
Whitaker was born August 14, 1904, in Monrovia, California. He grew up on a farm and worked his way through college, graduating from University of California, Davis in 1927 with a bachelor of science degree.
Continuing his education under a DuPont Fellowship, he graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) with a master"s degree in 1929 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1931.
He specialized in the study of economically important plants such as squashes, investigating their systematics and resistance to disease. Both of those degrees were in biology with concentrations in genetics and cytology. While at UVA, he spent summers at the Blandy Experimental Farm.
He did postdoctoral work at Bussey Institution and Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University.
Whitaker served as an associate professor at the women-only Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1934-1936. In 1936 he began working as a geneticist for the United States Department of Agriculture and remained in that role until he retired in 1973.
While with the United States Department of Agriculture he lived in Louisiana Jolla, California, and worked in the nearby Imperial Valley Experiment Station near Brawley, California. Whitaker specialized in amaryllis, cantaloupes and other Cucurbita, and lettuce in the search for disease resistance and better taste, and he investigated plant systematics.
Whitaker died on November 29, 1993, in Louisiana Jolla.