Ralph Elwood Brock (February 15, 1881 – December 9, 1959)[1] was an American forester and protégé of Joseph Trimble Rothrock.

A Union Army veteran who served in the 43rd Colored Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, John Brock worked as a schoolteacher and a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

[2][3] Brock soon became a protégé of Pennsylvania forestry commissioner Joseph Trimble Rothrock, to whom West Chester school superintendent Addison L. Jones had introduced him.

Of his six-man cohort, Brock was the only African American, making him the first academically trained forester in Pennsylvania and in the United States.

He authored technical reports and presented two papers at the first state foresters' convention in 1908, speaking on the subjects of "Fertilizers in Renewing Nursery Soil" and "Broadcast Sowing vs.

"[6][7] Brock left state service after three years and six months to start his own business managing landscaping, gardens, and orchards.

"[5] After moving back to West Chester, Brock founded a seed nursery and cared for gardens and orchards at estates in the region.