David M. Rosenberg (1943–2021): A personal reminiscence
2021; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/716553
ISSN2161-9565
Autores ResumoPrevious articleNext article FreeObituaryDavid M. Rosenberg (1943–2021): A personal reminiscenceVincent H. ReshVincent H. Resh1Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720 Search for more articles by this author 2E-mail addresses: [email protected]PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreDave Rosenberg, a member of the Society for Freshwater Science for over 50 years, died on June 25, 2021. He served as the Society’s President when it was the North American Benthological Society (NABS), was one of the founders of the Society’s journal (The Journal of the North American Benthological Society, JNABS), now named Freshwater Science, and served eight years as its Editor.To new members of the Society, he may have been known from reading parts of books that he co-edited, The Ecology of Aquatic Insects (1984) and Freshwater Biomonitoring and Benthic Macroinvertebrates (1993). They also may have read or cited some of the over 150 reports, book chapters, and research publications he wrote. I was lucky to have worked with him on these books and over 30 articles during the course of our nearly 50 years of friendship.To mid-career members, he may be remembered as the Editor of JNABS from 1997 to 2005. In this role, he was meticulous in overseeing that not only the best science was published but that the writing was clear and concise.To many of us now retired or near there, Dave was a strong presence at annual meetings, where he typically was engaged in stimulating discussions on biomonitoring and the impact of large-scale hydropower. He often peppered his conversation with colorful language and picaresque expressions that occasionally were shocking but soon became part of his (and often others’) persona. But for members of all these cohorts who were fortunate to know him personally, he was a friend and mentor, and we carry memories of him that elicit a smile, chuckle, or a shake-of-the-head. His memorable phrases, not intended to necessarily be complementary, included “This manuscript reads like a dog’s breakfast” and “The guy writes like Darwin”.Dave was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 24, 1943, and lived there until he moved to Winnipeg for his first professional position in 1971. Early in his life, the family lived with his maternal grandparents. In his 2018 memoir Houses of Plenty, he talked about the stimulating environment there among the Russian emigres that had moved to Western Canada early in the 20th century. The house was filled with political discussion and had fascinating guests such as Golda Meir, who eventually became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. His lifelong love of opera likely began there, and he remembered a visit from the famous Metropolitan Opera star (and former Cantor) Jan Peerce. They had their photograph taken together.Dave’s father and his family were emigres from Poland. His father had the personality of a diplomat and was gracious to all who knew him during his 101 years of life. However, Dave’s personality was much more like his mother’s, who he described as “a tough cookie”. She was very direct in her dealings with people, as he was.Dave’s parents owned the Highland Polar Bar, a homemade ice cream parlor in Edmonton, which at least partially explains his lifelong love of ice cream. He also worked part time for various relatives that had their own businesses in Edmonton.At the University of Alberta, he received his Bachelor’s (1965) and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in the Department of Entomology. His doctoral-dissertation research examined the ecological effects of low (but realistic) concentrations of the pesticide dieldrin on the aquatic invertebrates of farm ponds. However, his time at the University also involved a 12-week research expedition to the Eastern Tropical Pacific where he studied intertidal Collembola.While still writing his dissertation in 1971, Dave was offered a position as a Research Scientist at the newly formed Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. This government think-tank drew some of the best scientists worldwide as resident researchers and collaborators. It has been a center for innovative freshwater research for over 50 years.Dave was hired to evaluate the effects of the planned development of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline as part of an environmental impact assessment of the effects of gas and oil pipelines from the Arctic to southern markets. This project began his long-term research and excellent contributions on the effect of oil spills on streams and rivers. The project ended in 1975 without approval for the pipeline but did result in a detailed inventory of the freshwater fauna of this region.In 1975, Dave moved his research program to Southern Indian Lake, where the Churchill River in Northern Manitoba was diverted into the Nelson River catchment to provide additional flows for Manitoba Hydro’s dams on the Nelson mainstem. He examined the effects of flooding, increased flows, and the dewatering of the Churchill River resulting from the diversion. This area was remote, the logistics difficult, and local conditions were rough. I remember him telling me that these reasons were why so many young people were hired for this project. He continued this project through 1991, and he often described how it left him with a lifelong antipathy towards large-scale hydro projects.Dave did a sabbatical at Berkeley in 1979 where he taught a course on evaluating environmental impact assessments that resulted in a major article on this topic. All students in the class were co-authors of the article. One of those students, who eventually went on to be a Dean at a Canadian University, recently commented on hearing of Dave’s death: “I sometimes think back to that pivotal year in the lab and the seminar we all shared. The cumulative impact assessment paper we wrote was probably one of the more consequential in shaping my thinking. I have used that lens repeatedly in work … on natural areas conservation, and in teaching. Dave was a great advisor to us all that year.” Students and faculty were all sorry that he didn’t stay at Berkeley.His next project was at the world-famous Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario. Now ongoing for over 50 years, this research area is still addressing key questions in freshwater research. His studies examined the effects of methyl-mercury production resulting from reservoir formation and included an experimental acidification study of peatland marshes. In his 2017 memoir, A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the Lab, Dave quipped that he remembered funny stories from all his projects but not this one; he suggested that maybe research at ELA just wasn’t funny.Dave continued his large-scale projects but now in British Columbia working with Trefor Reynoldson of the Canadian Centre for Inland Waters and me to develop a monitoring program to assess the quality of streams in the Fraser River basin, a large and important catchment. This project took three years of intensive field work and analysis to complete and required the use of two helicopters for a month each year to visit over 250 sites, some multiple times. Biological, chemical, and physical data were collected at each site. The Fraser River study also involved his switch from univariate analysis of species and assemblages to a multivariate approach for biomonitoring. The resulting program—the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Program—is still ongoing.One of Dave’s most lasting contributions to science was his eight-year tenure as Editor of JNABS (now Freshwater Science). Although he retired from the Freshwater Institute in 2001, he continued editing the journal until 2005. He was a meticulous editor and, even after their manuscripts were accepted, authors often received detailed, line-by-line suggestions or queries as to whether or not their writing conveyed their exact, intended meaning. Dave was especially good in helping young authors hone their writing skills and mentoring his Associate Editors and Editorial Board members to take on leadership roles in a variety of journals. He also taught courses and workshops on the “Scientific Publication Process” as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Manitoba. There and at the Freshwater Institute he helped many students, especially those for whom English was a second language, complete their theses and dissertations.Jack Feminella and Pam Silver, who were first Associate Editors and later Co-Editors of the journal with Dave, presented him with a stone plaque upon his retirement entitled “The Ten Commandments of JNABS Editing”, certainly with Dave’s personal criteria in mind. “I. Thou shalt put the journal first in thine heart. II. Thou shalt not accept manuscripts before their time. III. Thou shalt neither utilize nor incorporate the majority of banned phrases. IV. Thou shall not edit while rushing. Eating, sleeping and even sex can be rushed; editing cannot. V. Honor thy strictly alphabetized Lit Cit. VI. Thou shalt not a backward sentence suffer to live. VII. Thou shalt not mix voices. VIII. Thou shalt not use commas, to which thou are not entitled. IX Thou shalt not bear false witness against J-NABS references. X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s hyphens, nor his en-dashes, nor his em-dashes, nor colons or semicolons.” A P. S. was added “Thou shalt ensure that all comparisons are completed”. These were intended to be a humorous send-off but were certainly true of his editing style in many ways!Dave received well-deserved awards and recognition many times during his career. These included the NABS Award for Outstanding Service (2000), The Gold Medal of the Entomological Society of Canada (1998), The K.H. Doan Publication Award (three times--1984, 1998, 1999), The Canadian Government Fisheries and Oceans Prix d’Excellence (2000). He also presented many prestigious, plenary lectures.Dave wrote a third memoir that was completed a few months before he died entitled For What It’s Worth (2020), which were his reflections on being a long-term, amateur investor. Many of his friends who had investment philosophies that he disagreed with (or more often didn’t have one at all, which he found unforgivable) were his foils in this last memoir. Keeping in touch with friends, colleagues, and former students was one of Dave’s characteristic traits. Over time, long, hand-written letters, which were almost illegible, were replaced by emails, and eventually phone calls (often weekly) became his preferred way of communicating. Dave had scores of wonderful colleagues and collaborators over the years. They are far too many to mention, but Allen Wiens was his “right-hand man” in research for over 25 years and his friend for far longer.Trudy Rosenberg, who Dave met when she was 5 years old, and he were married for over 55 years. She was as smart as Dave and while she could be as tough as him when needed, she softened him “around the edges” considerably and could almost be as diplomatic as Dave’s father Ralph. They are survived by their two children Tina and Lee, their partners Scott and Sara, and three grandchildren Aaron, Rayne, and Zoey. He is also survived by his older brother Nathan.Looking back over the more than 45 years that I knew and worked with Dave, my memories are of his great sense of humor—often self-deprecating and never mean-spirited—, our spirited discussions about politics and the meaning of life, and our fun doing field work and writing articles together. The last activity often involved disagreements about him wanting our writing to be more concise and mine wanting to keep in what he disparagingly called “unnecessary flowers”. Our compromises resulted from a mixture of cajoling and ultimatums, but always led to us both being satisfied with the final product.I started this tribute to Dave mentioning how colleagues of different ages might have known Dave in different contexts. But we are all part of the collective continuum of our science. We build on each other’s work by providing new insights or modifying old ideas. I think that Dave believed that although he knew that he contributed greatly to this continuum, his role as a mentor was his lasting contribution. When I look back, beginning when we first met, his mentoring role—personally and scientifically—was a major role that he played in my life as well. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Freshwater Science Volume 40, Number 3September 2021 Published on behalf of the Society for Freshwater Science Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/716553 Views: 561 History July 18, 2021Accepted July 20, 2021Published online August 24, 2021 © 2021 The Society for Freshwater Science. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.
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