Remembering Swamp Thing

Rick, covered in Lemna, during a muscle survey near Lake Erie.

I got a call late last night informing me that my friend and colleague, Rick Bowers, had passed away around 10am yesterday morning. He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain-stem glioma last year, and has been in declining health but bright spirits ever since. Rick was one of those big, warm personalities and was a real joy to be around. He will be remembered as a dedicated conservationist, a devout music-lover and talented musician, and a friend.

I first met Rick two years ago while helping with some field work at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on Lake Erie. After earning his Masters in Ecology from Kent State, Rick returned to Georgia to raise a family and work as an environmental consultant. After a few years, he decided to return to Kent State to complete his PhD. Rick was a world-class expert in freshwater mussels, and has published extensively in that area (1, 2, 3, 4). One of his recent investigations that I helped with was evaluating the effect of fish predation on mussel mortality.

Last summer I again spent a few days in Ottawa with him and his lab mates, only this time he mentioned he was having trouble with head aches, vision, balance and coordination. Despite the troubles he was having, Rick was able to catch more carp with a net and his hands then the rest of us were able to using a seine stretched across a stream. He was undoubtedly an incredible person.

It wasn't until later that fall, after multiple doctors and a battery of tests, that a positive diagnosis was finally reached. We've all been keeping tabs on the latest developments here at the bio department, but I hadn't realized his friends in Atlanta held a benefit concert last March in his honor. This past spring, Kent State established the Rick Bowers Memorial Fellowship to commemorate his time here.

You will definitely be missed, Rick.