Charles Clemons Deam (1865-1953) received the Pugsley Silver Medal for far-reaching contributions to Indiana's conservation program through his services as a forestor and botanist. He was a dominant figure in a golden age of botanical exploration in Indiana, in 1865. in 1881, the family was subjected to typhoid fever. It killed his mother but although the doctors gave up on Charlie living, he survived. he graduated in 1884. After trying a variety of jobs, he focused on drugstores, working in several of them where he learned the business before ultimately purchasing his ownin 1891 in Bluffton. In 1899, Deam attended the annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science, and here began to acquire his reputation as a noteworthy botanist. In 1909, Indiana passed a law creating a full-time job for the state forester.
In 1912, Deam published his first book, Trees of Indiana, published publidhed by the State Board of Forestry. In 1924, Deam published Shrubs of Indiana. Deam sold his specimens collection of 73,000 pressed sheets to Indiana University in 1932 for a dime a sheet, which helped alleviate some of his financial concerns stemming from the effects of the Depression on his drugstore business. In his honor, his admirers have named a lake Deam lake, 13,000 acre wilderness area in the Hoosier National Forest, a kind of a tree and about 50 small plants.