William Gordon Pannill (March 25, 1927 – June 10, 2014) was an American businessman, textile industry executive, amateur botanist, and noted daffodil hybridizer. Pannill hybridized, named and registered 210 new varieties of daffodils during his life.[1] He was a former president of both the American Daffodil Society and the American Horticultural Society.[1] He also founded the Horticulture Society of South Florida.[1]
Pannill established the American Daffodil Society's Pannill Award in 1997.[1] He went on to win the Pannill Award on three occasions: 1998 for his Homestead hybrid New Penny daffodil, 2003 for his River Queen hybrid daffodil, and 2006 for his New Penny hybrid.[1]
Pannill was born to William Letcher Pannill and Adele Dillard Pannill in Martinsville, Virginia.[1] He was youngest, and only son, of his parents' seven children. His father was considered a pioneer of Martinsville's textile industry, opening the Pannill Knitting Co. in 1925.[1]
William Pannill, a resident of Palm Beach, died at his summer home in Roaring Gap, North Carolina, on June 10, 2014, at the age of 87.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Donnelly, Shannon (June 12, 2014). "Daffodil hybridizer William Pannill dies". Palm Beach Daily News. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
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