[text: Nature Foundation]
It's always a privilege to work with donors who have a passion for nature, but working with the Pecks has been especially fulfilling.
The Pecks are sort of legendary in entomology in the way that they collected over time.
He has probably collected more insects than any other living person today.
[narrator] For more than 50 years, entomologists Stewart and Jarmila Peck have been a team,
travelling the globe studying and collecting insects. It has been a life-long passion.
[Stewart Peck, Ph.D., Research Associate, Canadian Museum of Nature] Being a collector is at the root of it.
Focusing on beetles, but collecting lots of other things as well.
Beetles are an excellent group of organisms to study evolution.
There are so many beetles within a comparable unit of scientific classification.
There's no other group that is as large as beetles, that is as diverse as beetles.
[Jarmila Peck, Ph.D., Research Associate, Canadian Museum of Nature] As a palaeontologist, I was most interested in evolution of insect organs. And the most important were the wings.
Unfortunately, it was not known how the wings originated. But let's say that it was fortunate for me
because here was a really nice problem to get into. So I started collecting plenty of modern insects.
[narrator] Throughout their long careers, Drs. Stewart and Jarmila Peck have inspired many future scientists in Canada and the United States,
including Bob Anderson, an entomologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to take three collecting trips with Stewart and Jarmila.
The first one was a massive trip we took to Mexico back in 1983.
And that was the trip where I learned almost everything I know about insect collecting.
[Crystal Maier, Ph.D., Curatorial Associate of Entomology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University] The way that they collect is both comprehensive on a biogeographic scale and on an ecological scale.
And each of those samples is a time capsule that can inform scientists and researchers in the future.
[Scott Miller, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Smithsonian Institution] Those collections are really important as basically foundational information on the distribution of biodiversity through time and space.
Which is increasingly important at a time like this where we know that climate change is having tremendous influence on biodiversity.
Over many years, the Pecks have donated nearly half a million specimens from their own collection to the Canadian Museum of Nature.
This includes beetles, as well as insect fossils that show how they evolved wings and developed flight.
[Robert Anderson, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Entomology, Canadian Museum of Nature] So, a lot of the specimens that Stewart has donated, they are unique to us.
And that is, I think, one of the things that has contributed to our museum collection being one of the best collections of beetles in the world.
[Stewart Peck, Ph.D.] It's a world-class collection with world-class material and world scope in its coverage.
This, to me is something that I want to promote and encourage. It seemed like the best place for our collections to go.
[François Génier, Collection Manager, Entomology, Canadian Museum of Nature] All the material that Stewart and Jarmila collected came with detailed scientific data, so this is giving this collection a really strong scientific value.
[narrator] In addition to donating their collections, this inspiring couple has made
a major endowment to the Nature Foundation: The Stewart and Jarmila Peck Visiting Scientist Fund in Entomology.
[Laura Evans, Executive Director and Chief Advancement Officer, Nature Foundation] Investments through the Nature Foundation support The Canadian Museum of Nature's important work,
and especially special projects that would not otherwise be possible—much like the Visiting Scientist Fund that the Pecks are creating.
[Arthur V. Evans, D.Sc., Trustee and Research Associate, Virginia Museum of Natural History] I was the recipient of a visiting-scientist grant that allowed me to spend two entire weeks working in the collection.
And it was an incredible experience for me having all that material from different parts of the world. It was a real boost to my research.
[Stewart Peck, Ph.D.] We want to make available opportunities, support for the next generation of scientists to come along,
help them get started and promote their science, and in this case, beetles and fossil insects and contribute to the next generation of scientific advancement.
[Jarmila Peck, Ph.D.] Because a museum is absolutely the best connection between intelligent human being and science.
[Laura Evans] We hope that other collectors and other philanthropists will invest in nature the way that the Pecks have done.
[text: To learn more about the Stewart and Jarmila Peck Visiting Scientist Awards in Entomology, visit nature.ca/PeckEN]