It is with great sadness that I share that Dr. Al Beeton passed away on April 24. Dr. Beeton was the director of NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory from 1986 to 1996. Over the course of his career, he was a leading researcher of Great Lakes limnology and aquatic zoology. A three-time graduate of the University of Michigan (B.S. ’52, M.S. ’54, Ph.D. '58), he became a professor and administrator at the university’s School of Natural Resources and College of Engineering from 1976 to 1986. In the late ’60s, Dr. Beeton served on IAGLR’s steering committee and first board of directors. He also served as co-chair of the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board from 1986 to 1991, and as NOAA’s chief scientist in the mid ’90s.
I know many of us have fond memories of Dr. Beeton. He was a great mentor who invested in and developed people; he promoted diversity and valued people as individuals long before that rose to our national consciousness. He remained interested in GLERL and its people long after his retirement, continuing to attend our holiday parties and retirement ceremonies. We will miss him and the example he set for us.
