John J. Heisler III

I still remember a very young Johnny Heisler from the trailer park where I grew up in Anne Arundel County Maryland. His mom Cathy liked me enough to invite me over to dinner on a few occasions. She liked Johnny having a playmate. We played mostly with Matchbox cars. The Heislers stayed in the mobile home when racing season came around at Pimlico, Laurel and Bowie. I have very fond memories of the Heisler family even though I lost contact with them all over fifty years ago. Rest in Peace...

John and I shared our graduate years in Gene Small´s lab. Memorable years that I still treasure. John and Gene along with our friend John Corliss are gone. He taught me so much that I carry with me to this day. Science is fun and John even more fun. I am lucky to have known him.

Remembrances of John

Its hard to know where to begin having know John since the early 1980s when he was still an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, College Park in Zoology and I was his Teaching Assistant in Protozoology. He developed a love of that subject on went on to do graduate work in the same lab with Dr. Gene Small. I completed my graduate degree and moved first to Mobile, Alabama and then to Charleston, South Carolina. Most of my fondest memories outlined...

John and I crossed paths at several meetings on the harmful algal bloom topic. He was one of those people with a good soul – you knew it right away. He was comfortable to be around, fun to talk with, made you feel good. He was also a force in the harmful algal bloom research community. He was involved in some very controversial areas, particularly the Pfiesteria issue. I can think of no one involved with this issue that displayed more professionalism or integrity than John Heisler. He is the...

Johnny and I had connected spirits. We were so much alike even though we took different paths in our lives. He was always there for me, as I for him. We spent many holidays together, laughing with our sarcastic type of humor. We took many hiking trips together. My heart is sad, but his spirit lives in me. Thank all of you for being there for our family. It is great to finally have faces to the stories Johnny told.

The Scientist

Come up to meet you,
Tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.

I had to find you,
Tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.

Tell me your secrets,
And ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start.

Runnin' in circles,
Comin' up tails,
Its only science apart.

Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part....

My husband Tim and I knew John for too short a time, but always enjoyed his curmudgeonly exterior and kind heart. My favorite memories are of the times when John took all of us to the races at Pimlico: we placed terrible bets, hung out drinking Bloody Mary’s in the clubhouse and generally enjoyed the hospitality of John and his family. John even took me with him one time to award one of the prizes to the winner of one of the races. I tried not to embarrass him (John, not the horse). We have...

I am a friend and student of John's from University of Maryland. I was a student of Genie Clark's but I think I spent more time in the protozoology suite than I did in my lab. I had lots of fun joking around with John. It was one of my personal missions to ace Gene Small's class when I took it and John would always try to come up with a zinger to trick me on the practicals. But, true to his wonderful nature, he also let me into the lab late at night to study when it was the only time it fit...