Anthony Lamb

Anthony Lamb was born in Sri Lanka, where he had his early schooling and found his interest in the diversity of wildlife. He completed his secondary education in England and graduated in Agriculture from Cambridge University, followed by a Diploma in Tropical Agriculture at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, before joining the Department of Agriculture in Sabah in 1962. From 1967 to 1977 he was in charge of the Ulu Dusun Agricultural Research Station, where he started taking an interest in the great diversity of wild edible fruits in the forests there, aided by botanists in the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok.

In 1987, he married Anthea Phillipps, at the time ecologist with the Sabah Parks, and with her and Dr George Argent and Sheila Collenette jointly produced a book on the Rhododendrons of Sabah, followed by Pitcher Plants of Borneo with Anthea Phillipps and Chien Lee. More recently, he has been involved in a 2-volume edition of the Orchids of Mount Kinabalu, A Guide to the Gingers of Borneo, a co-author in a monograph of Bulbophyllum of Borneo with Jaap Vermeulen and Peter O’Byrne, and in 2016, A Guide to Hoyas of Borneo with Michele Rodda.

He officially retired from the Department of Agriculture in 1992, but then took on the task of developing the Agricultural Park in Tenom until 2001 when it was opened. Since retirement he has worked in voluntary roles with the Forest Research Centre Sabah and its Herbarium. He has now retired in Kota Kinabalu with his wife and has a daughter and son.