[Coral-List] Passing of Peter Gayle

Tue Apr 28 15:40:01 UTC 2020

Dear colleagues,

Peter’s passing is a great loss to all of us who knew him and worked with
him.

I met Peter back in the mid-80s when he was DBML’s fearsome dive officer
who kept us (enthusiastic newbies) out of trouble while on his watch. Over
the years he became a good friend, a colleague and a mentor to many of us
who came from abroad and found ourselves knocking on his office door. He
was an amazing diver, passionate about reef conservation and coral
restoration, and always eager to share his knowledge of Jamaican reefs. But
mostly he was kind, genuine, funny, and always willing to help.

Rest in peace PG. You will be missed…

Bernadette Charpentier

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 3:13 PM Phillip Dustan via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Dear Listers,
> I'd like to echo BIll Precht's sentiments about Peter Gayle.
> I never got to dive with him but enjoyed his welcoming company, and
> critical thinkin.,
> We also shared a love for new gadgets - cameras, tools, or just fun things
> as well the Discovery Bay Marine Lab.
> Unknown to many of us, Peter posessed a wonderful baritone voice which he
> exercised as a member of his church.
> We will all miss him.
>   Phil
>
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 12:33 PM William Precht via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> > To all.
> >
> > With deep sorrow I wanted to inform the coral reef and scientific dive
> > community of the passing of Peter Gayle from Discovery Bay Marine
> > Laboratory.
> >
> > Peter was a dear friend of mine. I first met Peter at Discovery Bay in
> the
> > mid-1980s and we have been friends ever since.
> >
> > We took a tri-mix tech diving course together, we did a bunch of dives
> off
> > the north coast of Jamaica to depths I shouldn’t talk about - when he was
> > working on his graduate thesis at UWI, and he got me to play on a local
> > cricket team in St Anne’s Parrish when I was in town.
> >
> > Over the past decade or so he got actively engaged in coral restoration
> and
> > relocation projects and would constantly pick my brain to learn all that
> he
> > could about the subject.  We stayed close via email over the last few
> > years. The last time I saw him was at the Coral Reef Futures meeting in
> Key
> > Largo in December 2018. Although his health was not great and he was
> > confined to a wheelchair at the meeting he still had a very positive
> > outlook towards the future.
> >
> > I have enclosed below the text from a UWI press release that I received
> > from a friend this week.
> > ———————————
> >
> > The University of the West Indies, Mona, regrets to inform you that one
> of
> > our colleagues, Mr Peter Hope Marshal Gayle, passed away on Friday April
> > 17, 2020.
> >
> >
> >
> > Mr. Gayle was employed as the Principal Scientific Officer at the
> > UWI’s Discovery
> > Bay Marine Laboratory (DBML), having assumed responsibilities there in
> > 1985.
> > In addition to overseeing scientific operations, Peter ran the DBML’s
> SCUBA
> > diving programme, operated and maintained the lab’s ageing “Perry”
> > Recompression Chamber and oversaw the treatment of more than 380 dive
> > accident patients between 1985 to 2012 and led the effort to install and
> > commission the new HYTECH Hyperbaric Chamber which was opened in 2013.
> He
> > was the UWI’s representative on the Board of the Association of the
> Marine
> > Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC) for over 15 years.
> >
> >
> >
> > Peter served with the Jamaica Defence Force National Reserve in the Coast
> > Guard for 20 years where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant (senior
> grade).
> > In his spare time he sang bass with the St. Ann’s Bay Singers and as a
> > soloist.
> >
> >
> > ————-
> >
> >
> > Respectfully
> >
> >
> > Bill Precht
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > William F. Precht
> >
> >  “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
> > you have”
> >
> > Bob Marley
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Phillip Dustan PhD
> Charleston SC  29424
> 843-953-8086 office
> 843-224-3321 (mobile)
>
> "When we try to pick out anything by itself
> we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords
> that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe. "
> *                                         John Muir 1869*
>
> *Raja Ampat Sustainability Project video*
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
> *Bali Coral Bleaching 2016 video*
>
> *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo>*
> TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
> Google Scholar Citations:
> https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ
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