Anthony F. Amos

September 4, 2017
Anthony F. "Tony" Amos of Port Aransas died on September 4, 2017 at a hospice in San Antonio where he was under care for end-stage pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old and had recently been honored at a large fundraiser in Port Aransas (P.A.) as the founder and director of the ARK, the Animal Rehabilitation Keep, which resides on the grounds of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI). The ARK was renamed the Amos Rehabilitation Keep earlier this year by the University in honor of his work with stranded and wounded sea turtles and birds.

Tony Amos was a tall strong white-haired, white-bearded naturalist whose study of the beaches of Mustang and San Jose Islands was world- renowned. He spent thousands of days counting birds and trash on these islands and telling the public about his finds and observations in his weekly column in the Port Aransas South Jetty newspaper. He taught the citizens of these barrier islands how fragile their ecology was, and was named a 2010 NOAA Environmental Hero. He was a regular speaker on marine phenomena at service clubs and on television.

He was the winner and honoree of many prizes and recognitions, including being among the first twenty Texas Monthly Magazine "most interesting Texans." He was indeed a Texan in spite of having been born in London and coming of age on the island of Bermuda. His elegant voice and English accent never left him, however, and made him all the more compelling as a teacher.
Tony was an electronics "supertech," which in 1963 led to his career as a research scientist in Physical Oceanography at Columbia University's Lamont- Doherty Geological Observatory, New York. In 1976 he was hired at UTMSI in Port Aransas.

In spite of being a naturalist who worked for the UTMSI for 40 years and who made dozens of trips to Antarctica on scientific expeditions, Tony was an autodidact who did not have a college degree. His curiosity and erudition belied this fact, as did his many papers and other writings. He was a brilliant scientist whose experiential knowledge and empirical observations were equal to any.
Tony was married for 59 years to his beloved Lynn. They met on her home island of Bermuda. They had one son, Michael, whose wife Tallia and two adored children, Galoran and Gabriel, live in Los Angeles. As Tony weakened in the year of his cancer, Michael spent time in P.A. helping his father with his beach studies.

One of the last honors bestowed on Tony was the naming of the Port Aransas beach after him by the City of Port Aransas. P.A. and that beach are somewhat the worse for wear after the recent hurricane, and they will not have their Tony, the "Guardian of Our Gulf," to know what to do to help. But his countless fans may remember how to behave toward the nature of their sandy home, and if they do it will largely be because of Tony.

Part of Tony's ashes will be placed on the carapace of an ARK-rehabilitated green turtle who will be released into the surf at Access Road 1 on the Tony Amos Beach at Port Aransas on Saturday, September 30th at 6:45 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend.