This page is a tribute to valued Royal BC Museum Research Associate and world-renowned glass sponge expert Dr. Henry Reiswig, who recently passed away.
Henry Reiswig was born in Minnesota but grew up in the San Francisco area. He completed his early studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to get a PhD at Yale University. He served as a professor of biology at McGill University and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Redpath Museum in Montreal from 1972 until his (official) retirement in 2001. After "retirement", he relocated to Victoria and stayed active in his field, taking up voluntary appointments at the University of Victoria and the Royal BC Museum. His career as marine biologist, professor, mentor and lifelong lover of the natural world has left behind an incredible legacy, and he is sorely missed by his friends and colleagues in the global scientific community.
Dr. Reiswig was a passionate diver who, over his long career, transitioned to the role of world-renowned taxonomic expert on glass sponges. Glass sponges are filter-feeding animals with silica-based skeletal structures. There was much to be learned about these unusual and fragile animals, and Dr. Reiswig contributed to more than 100 taxonomic discoveries in the field. He was still in the process of describing new species on our coast when he passed in July 2020. The self-described ‘sponge guy’ said of his work at the Royal BC Museum, “I review manuscripts, work on images, go through the museum's unidentified glass sponge specimens, write up new species and genus descriptions, and work with museum staff and other research associates.” Actively collaborating with researchers around the world, Dr. Reiswig was well known for his wit, his curiosity about the biological world and his remarkable generosity of spirit.
Appreciating the scientific merit—and astonishing beauty—of glass sponges, the Royal BC museum profiled Dr. Reiswig’s work with a series of high-definition photographs of glass sponge spicules in a backlit display called Artisans of Glass in Clifford Carl Hall in 2015.
Dr. Henry Reiswig is survived by his daughters Jennifer, Penelope and Amy.
