Dr. Robert G. Wetzel, scholar of aquatic ecosystems, dies at age 68
| April 26, 2005 | |
| CHAPEL HILL — Dr. Robert G. Wetzel, who received international accolades for his research in furthering the world’s understanding of fresh water ecosystems, died at his home on April 18 after a five-month battle with lung cancer. He was 68.A memorial service will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday (April 29) in the banquet hall of UNC’s Morehead Building on East Franklin Street.
Wetzel was appointed William R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health’s department of environmental sciences and engineering in 2003. He had been on the department’s faculty since 2001 and also was a faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Curriculum in Ecology. “The loss of Professor Wetzel is a profound one for not only the family, but also for the department, the school, the university and the entire aquatic research community,” said Dr. Cass T. Miller, professor and chairman of the department of environmental sciences and engineering. “Professor Wetzel was a preeminent fresh water ecologist and limnologist; a prolific researcher; an outstanding mentor of students, postdoctoral associates and young faculty colleagues; a tireless servant for the common good; and a deeply committed and compassionate human being.” Miller recently presented Wetzel with the Hutchinson Science Laureate Award for outstanding contributions to the fundamentals of limnology (the scientific study of fresh water and the life within it) and the international dissemination of knowledge. Scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Hungary, Russia and the United States collectively awarded the honor. This award was the latest in a career of distinctions recognizing his contributions to his research field. Highlights of Wetzel’s career include election to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences (1986), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993) and the International Water Academy (lifetime membership, 2000); appointment as the first T. Erlander National Professor by the Swedish National Research Council and Uppsala University in Sweden (1982-83); and recipient of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography’s G. Evelyn Hutchinson Medal (1992) and the Society of Wetland Scientists’ Lifetime Achievement Award (2000). Further honors include being named Aquatic Ecologist of the Year in 2002, induction into the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2003 and election to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2004. Wetzel contributed crucial insights in understanding the role that grasses, algae and other plant life near or within a body of fresh water play in the aquatic ecosystem. He encouraged discussion concerning the importance of fresh water quality and conservation and had said that the availability of quality fresh water would be the greatest environmental problem in the 21st century. He published 23 books and more than 400 publications on his research; his “Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems” (2001) is regarded as a classic treatise in the study of fresh water. Before joining the UNC faculty, Wetzel had been Bishop professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa from 1990-2001. He had also held previous faculty positions at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan State University and Indiana University. Wetzel received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan in 1958 and 1959, his doctorate from the University of California at Davis in 1962 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala in Sweden in 1984. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol; two daughters, Kristy Myers of Hudson, Mich., and Pam Wetzel of Kalamazoo, Mich.; two sons, Paul Wetzel of Williamsburg, Mass., and Tim Wetzel of Longwood, Fla.; and nine grandchildren. The family also plans a memorial service at 11 a.m. June 25 at Bethlehem United Church of Christ, 423 S. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, Mich. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Robert G. Wetzel Memorial Fund, in care of the International Association for the Study of Inland Waters (SIL), Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 124 Rosenau Hall, CB #7431, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431. This fund helps support students in the study of fresh waters.
School of Public Health contact: Rebecca Riggsbee Lloyd, (919) 966-4175 or Rebecca_Lloyd@unc.edu News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu For further information please contact Emily Smith by email at emily_smith@unc.edu |
