[Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

Tue Aug 7 12:21:37 EDT 2018

Hi Marcie

Oh such sad, sad news.  I think fate meant for me to meet Steve --  and as they say, "and that has made all the difference".

By recruiting me into the emerging field of natural history conservation, Steve changed the trajectory of my professional career,  enabling me to combine my personal love of museums and nature.

But he did so much more for a young Canadian, transplanted to the Carnegie Museum for an IMLS grant.  There were the lessons of vision,  drive and work ethic; matched with an equal amount of kindness, humour and commitment to family.

Steve's vision and drive is reflected in the fact that, 25 years into my career, I still routinely refer back to key preservation studies Steve and Cathy did.  I also continue to reinforce Steve's early lessons, to my own conservation students - talk to the curatorial staff, clearly understand a specimen's scientific value and its risk of loss, it is often not what you would expect.  Steve's work ethic was also incredible, no job, no matter how academically rigorous or how humble was to be done right.

Steve's fundamental kindness, humour and commitment to family, radiates from his obituary video https://www.lakeshorefuneralhome.com/dr-stephen-l-williams/ .

Such a life well lived.  My heart goes out to his beautiful family, that he loved so much.

Carolyn Leckie
Natural History Conservator
Canadian Museum of Nature

From: Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Hawks, Catharine
Sent: August-06-18 6:30 AM
To: McLaren, Suzanne <McLarenS at CarnegieMNH.Org>; Revelez, Marcia (CDC/OPHSS/CSELS/DLS) <mte8 at cdc.gov>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

Hi Marcie

I echo the thoughts from others about thanking you for sharing this. It is very, very sad news.

We rightly celebrate all Steve did for collection management and mammalogy. It is easy, given his work in those areas, to forget all that he did for collection conservation. Steve managed to wrangle a major museum agency into funding the first US pre-program conservation internship in natural history conservation. I was lucky enough to end up as that intern and became hooked on the challenges it presented and the enthusiasm Steve showed for extending conservation into a new arena. He, along with Joan Gardner and Carolyn Rose were outstanding mentors and strong co-conspirators in establishing the natural sciences as a legitimate conservation discipline in the US.

Steve developed numerous projects with me and later with other interns to investigate the best methods to care for specimens in natural history collections, and eventually pursued his doctorate in conservation. His dissertation, Destructive Preservation, explored the ways that traditional specimen preparation methods, often founded on expediency and not on any application of science, had damaged the long-term research utility of collections. It was, for him, a natural extension of his work in collection management.

Whether editing a book or co-authoring papers, it always seemed like Steve and I were butting heads over every word, yet I never ceased to look up to him as a teacher, colleague, and friend.

Despite his many adventures during fieldwork, it was a dance floor that Steve found most daunting. I recall being nearly brought to tears trying not to laugh when he confided that his greatest fear was not defending his dissertation, but having to dance at the formal dinner that followed the awards ceremony. It was a typically Steve kind of self-deprecation, and one of the attributes that make him so likeable.

Steve's passing is a great loss to three museum fields, and certainly to the family he loved so deeply.

Cathy
_______________________________
Catharine Hawks
Conservator
Collections Program
MRC 170 Rm M85-J
National Museum of Natural History
10th Street & Constitution Ave NW
Washington DC 20560
w 202.633.0835 or 4041  c 703 200 4370
hawksc at si.edu<mailto:hawksc at si.edu>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of McLaren, Suzanne
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2018 9:50 PM
To: Revelez, Marcia (CDC/OPHSS/CSELS/DLS) <mte8 at cdc.gov<mailto:mte8 at cdc.gov>>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

Thanks for posting this announcement, Marcy.  I'm having a tough time with this sad, sad news.  Steve and I shared an office for more than a decade.  He was an incredibly hard worker, no matter what kind of work he undertook.  In his early days as a mammalogist his research focused on pocket gophers and he helped us build a very nice collection of pocket gophers (among many other mammals!) at Carnegie Museum.  We had some enjoyable trips to the field. Steve taught me (and others) to trap pocket gophers in Texas and New Mexico.  He was an excellent field mammalogist.  I am pretty sure that Steve did field work on every continent except Antarctica, if the fauna of Papua New Guinea can stand in for continental Australia.  I also think that he was the person who was the first to hold the title of 'Collection Manager' anywhere in the country, when he came to Pittsburgh from Texas Tech in 1976.   He was a terrific office-mate - I could tell so many stories!   The year I turned 30, he hid 10, full-sized Reese's Peanut-butter Cups all over the office.  I just kept finding them, day after day.  Steve was a genuinely nice person.  I'm thinking with great sympathy for Kathy, Sarah and Jason Williams and all the grandchildren tonight.

Sue

From: Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Revelez, Marcia (CDC/OPHSS/CSELS/DLS)
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2018 5:34 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D42E49.2EF622C0]It is with profound sadness that I share the shocking news of the passing of our dear friend, Stephen L. Williams.  He was the prototype for the Collection Manager and he had such a strong impact on how we manage natural history collections today - he helped define the museum professional.  His body of work includes over 130 publications, nearly 100 of those contributing to the body of knowledge about collections care and management.  He was a native west Texan from Midland (where my family is from).  He received undergraduate and master's degrees in biology as well as another master's in Museum Science at Texas Tech University.   His career included positions at the Natural Science Research Laboratory at Tech, Carnegie Museum, and Strecker Museum at Baylor (now the Mayborn).  He was a great mammalogist too and he combined the best of field research, mammal systematics, taxonomy, and broke ground on research pertaining to collections.

He was a strong family man, and the video at the end of his obituary can attest to that.  We will miss you Steve.  Rest well.
Obituary link: https://www.lakeshorefuneralhome.com/dr-stephen-l-williams/ . The funeral was today in Waco, TX.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Dup15q Alliance (https://dup15q.networkforgood.com/projects/43843-support-the-dup15q-alliance-mission).

When I traveled to my first SPNHC meeting and met him as a young professional - I felt like I was meeting the Father of Collections Management - and maybe he was.  I still remember stalking him and wanting to talk to him and learn as much as I could about his history and contributions - what a privilege.  He was always encouraging and supportive and of course we had our Texas bond.  I always thought that if you are a collections manager in mammalogy - there isn't much that you do that didn't originate from him.  My fondest memories will be all of those conversations but most of all dancing with him at those SPNHC banquets.

Please feel free to use this email string to share memories of Steve.

Marcy Revelez
Collections Manager and Acting Team Lead, CDC Biorepository
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[NEW approved logo-CMYK]

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