E. O. Wiley (1944 - ) was born Edward Orlando Wiley, III, in Corpus Christi, Texas. He grew up in mostly in San Marcos, Texas where he graduated from Southwest Texas State College (now Texas State University with a degree in biology, minor in chemistry. After one year as a fisheries biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife he joined the U.S. Air Force. After four years with assignments in Kansas, Key West, Florida and Alaska he returned to school at Sam Houston State University (M.A) and City University of New York (Ph.D.). During his tenure at the University of Kansas he has specialized in the theory and practice of systematic biology and studied the evolution of fishes as a member of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Senior Curator of Fishes at the Biodiversity Institute. Honors include election as a Fellow to the Linnean Society, London, President of the Society of Systematic Zoology (now Biology) and a recipient of the Gibbs Award for an outstanding body of work in the field of systematic ichthyology. He is the author of three books (two in second edition) and over 120 peer-reviewed papers.