Arthur H. Harris

Arthur Horne Harris (Art) passed away on September 8, 2025, at the age of 94. Art was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, in 1931, the son of Frank A. Harris, a school bus driver, and the former Winifred S. Deane, a homemaker.

Art is survived by his wife Cindy, his children Tina and Megan, his stepson William, and his six grandchildren, Cory, Kinsey, Mandy, Caitlin, Zoe, and Aidan. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Roger, his children Amy and Becky, and his first wife Anita.

Born and raised in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Art entered the Army in 1951 serving as a lineman, now known as a power distribution specialist, at White Sands Missile Range during the Korean conflict. After his discharge from service, he returned to the southwest to attend the University of New Mexico where he earned his bachelor’s degree in biology (1958), master’s degree in Zoology (1959) and PhD. In Vertebrate Zoology (1965).

Dr. Harris joined the biology faculty at Ft. Hays Kansas State College in 1963 and then the faculty at the Biology Department, University of Texas at El Paso (then Texas Western University) in 1965, when the Biology Building was what is now the Psychology Building. He founded and became the first director of the Museum of Arid Land Biology (now the Biodiversity Collections) for the purposes of research and education, and served as the Museum Director, Curator of Higher Vertebrates, and Curator of Vertebrate Paleobiology for over 45 years.

This is Art’s professional legacy, combined with the generations of students that he taught, thousands. Art was a dedicated teacher and researcher. For 45 years he taught not just biology students, but also art students refining their skills, nursing students in comparative anatomy, geology students headed for careers in minerals exploration and paleontology, and graduate students in mammalogy, biodiversity, paleobiology. The collections were subsequently known as the Laboratory for Environmental Biology, and now the UTEP Biodiversity Collections. In addition to the extant vertebrate

collections, Art was one of the largest contributors to the understanding of Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology in the southwest. He worked tirelessly to support the collaboration between the Biodiversity Collections and the Centennial Museum.

Art also served as the Managing Editor of the Southwestern Naturalist from 1978-1982, on the editorial board of the Texas Western Press from 1988-2001, and was an ad hoc reviewer for National Science Foundation, Journal of Mammalogy, The Southwestern Naturalist, San Diego Society of Natural History publications, Vertebrate Paleontology, Texas Journal of Science, University of Arizona Press, et al. He served on the Vice-President, Sec. VI, Environmental Science, Texas Academy of Science, 1972-1973. Board of Directors, Texas Academy of Science, 1974-1976. This is only a partial listing of his contributions to supporting the sharing of academic knowledge.

Two biological species are named after him, an extinct desert shrew, Notiosorex harrisi, and a land snail, Ashmunella harrisi.

Finally, Art made a huge and lasting contribution as an educator to the public. He published hundreds of publicly available pages on the global network regarding the flora and fauna of the El Paso region, Chihuahuan desert, and the southwest. This includes extensive collaboration with the Centennial Museum, UTEP.

For those wishing to honor the life and legacy of Arthur H. Harris, please donate to the Biodiversity Collections, the University of Texas at El Paso, Biodiversity Collections - The University of Texas at El Paso.

Services will be at Fort Bliss National Cemetery on Friday, September 26, 2025, at 11 am.