Born Karl Wilhelm Schaarschmidt II in
New York City to Swiss and German parents, he grew up the
U.S.,
Europe, and
Canada. Sharsmith was inspired by the works of naturalist
John Muir and became interested in the outdoors and nature. He dropped out of school at 14, but became inspired enough to finish his high school and college education. Sharsmith enrolled in the Yosemite School of Field Natural History in 1930 then was hired as a seasonal Ranger-Naturalist in Tuolumne Meadows,
Yosemite National Park the following year. He received his BA from the
University of California, Los Angeles in 1933, and his Ph.D. in botany from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1940. Sharsmith would work each summer as a Ranger-Naturalist and spend the rest of the year teaching or performing herbarium research. He was said to have explored nearly every "nook and cranny" of Yosemite's High Sierra The rest of the year he taught or researched at various schools, that included
Stanford University, the
University of Minnesota, and
San Jose State University. Sharsmith was Professor of Botany at San Jose State from 1950 to 1973. On his opinion of teaching he said, "people are not interested in facts. The greater appeal is to the heart." On nature walks, he would often kneel down and talk about a flower. One of his favorite flowers was Raggedy Aster (
Aster integrifolius). When asked what he would do if he only had a day to see Yosemite he replied, "I'd sit by the Merced River and cry." Besides interpreting for visitors, Sharsmith did basic research on the alpine meadows of the High Sierra, gathering thousands of herbarium specimens, and publishing several research papers. Sharsmith's last season as a park ranger-naturalist was during the summer of 1994. At age 91, he was oldest active NPS park ranger in the US at the time. He died at his home in San Jose, California just a few weeks after he completed his final season in uniform at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. ==Personal life==