[Coral-List] The passing or one of the coral greats

[Alina Szmant]

Thanks Gene for posting. I sent out a short notification of his passing last week that didn't make it through the Coral-List filter. It is so sad that John passed so young and suddenly. I met John when he was the director of the St. Croix lab when I had three Hydrolab missions back in the early 1980s. We also interacted on the early CARICOMP program although I didn't end up being a member (U of Miami wasn't interested). Then we worked together on a McArthur grant to study coral health and nutrient dynamics in the Florida Keys, which was followed a few years later by the Seakeys program. His early fieldwork on herbivory in the USVI contrasting grazing of herbivorous fishes and Diadema became especially important as the reefs became more and more overfished and then the Diadema die-off.

John was an all-around great human being. He had a great sense of humor and was thoughtful, a great program leader that gave everyone the opportunity to express their opinions and affect the outcome. He was very adept at mediating conflicting opposing opinions. He taught me the phrase "herding cats" which I hadn't come across before but was very apt for the contentious group of us he assembled for the nutrient work. I now use it often!

 It was fun to be around him listening to his stories. I will treasure that I could call him a friend.


*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant, CEO
CISME Instruments LLC
210 Braxlo Lane,
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
cell: 910-200-3913
EMAIL: alina at cisme-instruments.com

CISME IS NOW SOLD BY QUBIT SYSTEMS; https://qubitbiology.com/cisme/


**********************************************************
Videos:  CISME Video 5:43 min   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAYeR9qX71A&t=6s
CISME Short version Demo Video 3:00 min  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa4SqS7yC08
CISME Cucalorus 10x10 Sketch   4:03 min  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12sAV8oUluE


-----Original Message-----
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of Eugene Shinn via Coral-List
Sent: Sunday, July 2, 2023 4:58 PM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] The passing or one of the coral greats

      The coral reef research community and conservationists have lost one of its Greats. Dr. John C. Ogden left us at 11:10 PM June 25. He was only 82 when he passed following complications from a hip operation.
John received his PhD from Stanford University under the famous Population Bomb author, Paul R. Ehrlich. Although John began as bird Specialist, he headed to Panama for a post doc with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute where he studied parrotfish. That led him to the West Indies Lab on St. Croix in 1971 where he became resident marine biologist and later the director. He was also Original Director of the NOAA HYDROLAB facility and became an aquanaut. John was an early leader in the developing field of behavioral ecology and initiated Caribbean-wide Seagrass Ecosystem studies.

He moved to St. Petersburg, Florida as director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography where he added the Keys Marine Lab to FIO facilities. He worked tirelessly to help get the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary established in 1990. John published over 70 papers, contributed to numerous books and produced several television programs about tropical ecosystems. He worked on policy and research relating to the conservation of coral reefs and tropical ecosystems with NSF, NOAA, U. S Dept of State, the World Bank, UNESCO, WWF, and private Foundations.
Anyone involved with coral reef research will know he is responsible for much, much more. When he served on numerous coral reef committees in the Florida Keys he always brought up the most important subjects. John will be greatly missed by the coral reef research community world-wide. Gene _______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<mailto:Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list