With a Ph.D. in forest botany István Rácz formerly served as curator of the conifer collection, and the cultivated dendroflora herbarium at the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum.

He is an associate of the International Dendrological Research Institute Inc., Massachusetts, USA, and member of the board of the International Dendrological Foundation.

He has worked with Zsolt Debreczy since 1975. With Debreczy, he was a Mercer Fellow and Visiting Scientist at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University from 1988 to 1992. He participated in most of the field-work that made Conifers Around the World possible in addition to contributing the high-quality, artistic photographs and managing the background documentation.

Recently awarded Titular Professor at the Budapest Corvinus University.