Gainesville, Florida
COURTENAY, WALTER R., JR., 80Gainesville - Walter R. Courtenay, Jr. died at Gainesville, Florida, on January 30, 2014 at age 80. He was born in Neenah, Wisconsin, on November 6, 1933, son of Walter Rowe and Emily Simpson Courtenay, both deceased. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in...
Read MoreWalt was a leader in alerting world fisheries interests about the adverse effects of introducing nonnative fishes. He was an excellent scientist and a warm and generous person. I had the opportunity to wok on a river trip with him in 1987, and take great enjoyment in watching a video he made of it.
Harold Tyus
June 18, 2014 | Golden, CO
Walt Courtenay was an important mentor and advisor to me early in my career. He, along with Carter Gilbert and Dick Robins, were generous in sharing guidance, direction, and insight when I first moved to FL in 1970. He will be missed as a colleague, scientist, and conservationist.
Buck Snelson
February 22, 2014 | Gainesville, FL
I met Walt in the late 70s at meetings of the Desert Fishes Council when I was a Grad student. We immediately shared a passion against invasive exotic species, and he served as a great role model for this young student. Friendly, accepting, informative, passionate....Walt will be missed.
Gary Meffe
February 22, 2014 | Brandon, VT
Walt was my undergraduate professor and adviser at FAU in the 1970s, a mentor and valued colleague from then on. He shared his enthusiasm and his encyclopedic knowledge of fishes generously and unflaggingly, and was a pioneer in the study of (and crusade against) invasive species. He was always cheerful, entertaining, and a pleasure to be around. Walter Courtenay was an outstanding example of a lifetime teacher, scientist, and conservationist.
Jan Jeffrey Hoover
February 22, 2014 | Jackson, MS
I knew Walt while he was at FAU and had the highest regard for his work. He will be remembered as a friend and scholar.
William Kennedy
February 15, 2014 | Boca Raton, FL
Please accept my sincere condolences.
Linda Hersh
February 13, 2014 | Lake Worth, FL
I knew Walt as a friend and colleague for 40 years and, unfortunately, just heard of his passing. Walt was a generous and helpful individual, as well as an excellent biologist. Walt was loved and respected professor as evidenced from a number of his students who are my own life long friends. His sense of humor is unmatched in the field of ichthyology. When asked to roast fellow ichthyologists at the 1976 ASIH meetings he had us all on the floor. He will be sorely missed by this colleague.
R. Grant Gilmlore, Jr., Ph.D.
February 11, 2014 | Vero Beach, FL, FL
Our field lost a great one in Walt and one of the warmest colleagues I knew.
Wayne Starnes
February 10, 2014 | Raleigh, NC
