[Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

[McLaren, Suzanne]

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
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Passing of Stephen L. Williams

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D42B73.E22E3720]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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