After Rockefeller, Bob became a scientist, researcher and professor at Syracuse University for 28 years until the late 1990s, when he joined the faculty at Upstate Medical University. There, he was the driving force that established the Center for Vision Research, a group now that numbers 50 people and is the largest clinically focused research group at Upstate Medical. His leadership was critical in establishing the SUNY Upstate Foundation’s endowment to support vision research and the SUNY Eye Institute, a collaboration of all four SUNY medical schools performing vision research.

Bob had been the recipient of many awards, including the President’s Award for Excellence and Leadership in Research at Upstate Medical University in 2002, Senior Scientist Award-Research to Prevent Blindness in 2005, State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2007, and the ARVO Gold Fellow in 2009. He also held leadership positions on several boards, including being a vice president of the board of trustees of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, on the board of trustees of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and a director for the Doreen Grace Brain Center in Mashpee, Massachusetts. He had been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, University of Cambridge in England, and the University of Tsukuba in Japan and had a long list of invited presentations as a lecturer.

He had been featured in many scientific journals and programs, including Nature Magazine, Discovery Channel and the BBC. His work has also been published in more than 103 scientific papers, and there are five more that will be published posthumously. And last, due to his thoughtful preparation, his important work on macular degeneration will be continued under the guidance of his colleagues at Upstate Medical.

Bob had many passions outside of the lab, most of which involved the water. He loved to swim, scuba dive and fish on his boat, the “Jimbo.” During the summers at Woods Hole, he made a ritual of swimming every day, usually off Nobska Beach, and even swam across Vineyard Sound and Buzzard’s Bay. Back in Syracuse, when not at home or the lab, he could be found in a pool swimming masters or heading to a Syracuse University basketball game. He was also an active member of the Pompey Lions Club.

Bob is survived by his wife, Patricia; his three children, Kimberly (Braith) Kelly of Connecticut, Jill (Mark) Bloom of Maryland and Jack (Alison) Barlow of Massachusetts; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; his brother, James Barlow; his sister Margaret Jane Lawson; and several nieces, nephews and cousins. Bob’s family has decided to hold a private service for immediate family members to remember his life. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Bob’s name to either the Vision Research Fund, 311, Upstate Medical University Foundation, 750 East Adams Street, CAB 326, Syracuse, NY 13210 (315) 464-4416 or The Marine Biological Laboratories, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543 (508) 289-4751.

“This year, we had so much more response from residents,” she said. It’s been a word-of-mouth process, said Baum, who along with her neighbors lives near some of the most productive beaches in the world for spawning horsehoe crabs.

Glenn Gauvry, president of ERDG, said the program is designed to engender a sense of trusteeship among beach community residents, encouraging them to care for the crabs that share their beaches. “This is not a state or federal program at all. It’s entirely a creation of ERDG,” he said.

“The idea was to start to engage the community in conserving this natural resource, the horseshoe crab. What better place to start a sanctuary than where these animals are coming to spawn,” he said.

State and federal protections are in place for some of the land along the Delaware Bay, prime spawning grounds for horseshoe crabs. But, Gauvry said, most crabs end up in people’s yards to spawn.

“The world’s most productive spawning beaches for horseshoe crabs are along the Delaware Bay. Some of the most productive beaches are here in Delaware,” he said.

So, ERDG works to educate community members, who in turn educate visitors about the ecological significance of horseshoe crabs and why it is important to give them a hand, by turning over stranded crabs, he said.

There is no program like it in the country, Gauvry said. So far, there are seven sanctuaries in Delaware and one in New Jersey. Broadkill Beach, Primehook Beach, Fowler Beach, Slaughter Beach, Kitts Hummock, Camp Arrowhead and Pickering Beach in Delaware and Fortescue Beach in New Jersey are designated sanctuaries, he said. ERDG estimates those communities are protecting more than 12 miles of key spawning habitat.

“People here in Delaware have really stepped up to the plate and said, ‘We’re going to take care of this resource,’” said Gauvry. They partner with scientists and researchers, helping to count crabs, as well.

It wasn’t long ago that people didn’t want the crabs on their beaches at all, because of the smell, he said.

Now, Gauvry said, communities along the Delaware Bay have mounted a heroic effort to save the crabs, whose eggs are a key food source for migratory shorebirds, including the threatened red knot.

By Leah Hoenen, Cape Gazette

Kuantan police chief ACP Mohd Jasmani Yusoff said the body of Mohd Nazri Ibrahim, 25, of Kampung Peramu here, was found by an elder brother at 12.20pm, about four hours after he had spotted personal items of Mohd Nazri at a spot on the coast.

The sibling had lodged a police report earlier, and a search-and-rescue team was despatched to look for Mohd Nazri, he said.

Bernama: Malaysian National New Agency

India: A deep-sea port at Dhamra, Orissa, being built by the Dhamra Port Company Limited in a joint venture with Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro poses a threat to Olive Ridley sea turtles and horseshoe crabs. Download the pdf.

Delaware: Horseshoe crabs famously lay millions of eggs along the beaches of the Delaware Bay each spring. Scientists are discovering they just as frequently spawn along sandy shores in the Inland Bays. Download the pdf.

Florida: Warning: This is a story about horseshoe crab mating, but it will zealously avoid such hackneyed attempts at humor as references to sex on the beach or romance under the full moon. Download the pdf.

Happy Holiday’s to all our members and supporters. We hope this newsletter finds you well. It’s been a good year for the North American horseshoe crab population and our efforts to protect them. Building community is what we do, and it has been a busy year. Our Winter 2008 Newsletter will give you some of the highlights. Download the pdf.

“In Kathy Sloane’s fifteen-minute film, WITNESS TO HIROSHIMA, Japanese citizen Keiji Tsuchiya, using 12 watercolors he painted in 2002, recounts his experiences in Hiroshima as a 17-year-old soldier during the month immediately following the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and relates those experiences to his subsequent life-long commitment to saving the Japanese horseshoe crab and its habitat. 

Through the use of animated still photographs and Mr. Tsuchiya’s narrative, the film depicts the horrors Tsuchiya witnessed hours after the bomb blast, and the aid he and others offered the burned and dying victims they encountered. Out of such horror the film segues into the beautiful story of how and why Mr. Tsuchiya came to devote himself to preserving the life of the horseshoe crab.”

ERDG working with Director Kathy Sloan, provided both consultation on the natural history of the Japanese horseshoe crab (kabutogani), as well as the photographic images of kabutogani used in this poignant documentary. http://www.witnesstohiroshima.com