Arthur John Willis was born in Sherborne, Dorset. He was brought up on a farm and his fascination with plants began at an early age and flourished during his years at Sexey´s School, Bruton, Somerset. At Bristol University he graduated with a first class degree in Botany (1947) and stayed there to take his doctorate under E.W. Yemm. After completing his PhD, which was concerned with nitrogen metabolism in barley, Willis´s research interests rapidly branched out from early studies of plant physiology to venture into fields such as ecology and palaeobotany.

During the 1950s, he investigated pollen, mosses and liverworts as well as an unidentified filamentous organism from Wookey Hole caves, Somerset. He devised a new method for studying plant fossils that is still in use. His 1954 paper with Yemm on the `anthrone´ method for estimation of carbohydrates had accumulated 876 citations on the ISI database by July 2006. As his career progressed, Willis became best known for his contributions to ecology. His Journal of Ecology paper (in two parts) on the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows, North Devon (1959), has been profoundly influential in the study of coastal vegetation, a subject that became one of his principal interests during the rest of his life. He authored further papers specifically on Braunton Burrows and continued to be associated with studies at the site until the end of his life.

Long-term fieldwork investigations involved Willis and Bristol University teams at a number of sites in south-west England. He took full advantage of his department´s close proximity to the botanical `Mecca´ of the Avon Gorge, acquiring expert knowledge of its rare plants and carrying out many surveys and studies involving application of mineral nutrients. At Bibury in Gloucestershire he investigated the long-term effect of herbicides on roadside vegetation, recording treated and control plots for nearly half a century. The study has assumed a significance far beyond its original purpose, as the data from the control plots has become invaluable to research into global climate change. Willis also carried out a series of investigations at Berrow salt marsh, Somerset, studying both its vegetation and topographical changes over 85 years, with the help of historical records and photographs. In the course of work at Berrow he discovered a plant new to Britain, Juncus subulatus.

The other main strand of Willis´s career was editorial work. His remarkable contribution to Biological Flora of the British Isles, a special adjunct to the Journal of Ecology, began in 1968 when he joined its Editorial Board. In 2004 he completed a 15 year term as its Editor. Willis also edited the Journal of Ecology itself 1969-1975, the Contemporary Biology series of books for the publishers Edward Arnold and the Bulletin of the Bristol Naturalists´ Society. Of his own publications, a notable work was his extensive revision (published in 1973) of Sir Arthur Tansley´s Introduction to Plant Ecology which amounted to a new book. He collaborated with M. Zahran of Mansoura University, Egypt, to produce The Vegetation of Egypt (1992), followed by Plant Life in the River Nile in Egypt (2003). Willis´s long preoccupation with coastal vegetation and ecology was eventually distilled into a major book with John Packham, Ecology of Dunes, Salt Marsh and Shingle (1997).

Willis was appointed Professor of Botany and Head of Department at the University of Sheffield in 1969, remaining there until his retirement in 1987. An excellent administrator, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Pure Science and, as Emeritus, continued working in the Botany Department for most of his retirement.

Willis´s professional affiliations include the British Ecological Society of which he was Vice-President (in addition to his editorial commitments already mentioned), the Linnean Society (Fellow), the Botanical Society of the British Isles and the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. He acted as advisor to organisations such as the Nature Conservancy Council, English Nature, County Naturalists´ Trusts, Sheffield Children´s Hospital (identifying poisonous plants ingested) and, on one occasion, to the police as a forensic botanist.

Willis married Dorothy Bees in 1948; they had two daughters. He died on 20 June 2006.

The Library is grateful to the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, University of Bath, for cataloguing the collection.