[Coral-List] Dr. Austin Lamberts

[Judith Lang/Lynton Land]

Dear Listers,
I have learned that "Dr. Austin Lamberts passed away peacefully at  
his Grand Rapids (Michigan) home on April 18, 2006."

Austin was an American neurosurgeon who, after losing fine-motor  
control of his right hand in an accident, returned to graduate school  
at the University of Hawaii and eventually became a scleractinian  
taxonomist--in which capacity some members of the coral-list will  
remember him and his scientific papers. Austin was a snorkeler, and  
happily his carefully annotated collection of shallow-water stony  
corals now resides at the University of California, Berkeley.

Probably less well known is that after his "second retirement" Austin  
frequently volunteered as a  "triage doctor" in some of our world  
most hellish war zones and refugee camps, giving basic medical care  
to people struggling to survive under conditions that most of us can  
scarcely imagine. When he was at home during these years, one of  
Austin's joys was publishing in medical magazines light-hearted and  
easily-read, yet educational short stories about interesting patients  
he'd encountered as a young surgeon.

I feel honoured to have known such an extraordinary person.

Judy Lang