The Russian Defector Who Plundered the Amazon For American Drug Companies
Boris Krukoff was whisper thin, with enormous eyes that erupted out of deep sockets. By the time he started working for the American pharmaceutical company Merck, he was fast becoming one of the premier plant hunters in the tropical world.
Boris Krukoff was a thin man with large eyes. After graduating from the gymnasium, he studied law at Kazan University. His life changed with the Russian Revolution and civil war. In 1918, Krukoff fought against the Bolsheviks and later served in the White Navy and Marines. He was captured by the Reds in 1919 and became a prisoner of war.
He escaped multiple times and crossed back to territory controlled by the Whites. He eventually joined the Russian Admiralty at Omsk. After the war, Krukoff left Russia and worked in the Philippines, Australia, Canada, and the United States. In 1925, he arrived in New York and enrolled at the New York State College of Forestry in Syracuse.
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