Thomas Paul Simon

Abstract

All photos provided by the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab. On July 16, 2016 Thomas Paul Simon, Ph.D. of Bloomington, Indiana passed away unexpectedly. Dr. Simon was a well-known aquatic ecologist and ichthyologist with degrees from three Big Ten institutions and teaching experience at three additional Big Ten schools. Tom, as he was known by his friends and colleagues, is survived by his wife of 35 years, Marybeth Simon; sons, Thomas Paul Simon, IV, Cameron Simon, and Zachary Simon, and daughter, Lia Simon, all of Bloomington; mother, Marcella Simon of Harrison Township, MI; sisters, Lisa Farnsworth of Clinton Township, MI, and Carla Price (Edward) of McComb, MI. His father preceded him in death. Simon was born in Mt. Clemens, Michigan on February 22, 1959. He attended the University of Michigan and was an honorable mention for All-American honors (1980) in men's lacrosse at attack, their leading goal scorer (1979, 1980), Rookie of the Year (1978), and part of the Big Ten All Star Team (1981). Lacrosse would continue to play an important part of his life, as a semi-professional player in Canada, member of the U.S. team, and coach for girl's lacrosse. Simon received his B.S. from the University of Michigan in Aquatic Biology (1981), his M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in Aquatic Ecology/Fish Biology (1985), and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Aquatic Ecology/Ichthyology (1994). He worked for 25 years in a variety of capacities for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During his time working for the U.S. EPA, he was awarded three Congressional bronze medals for work on environmentally-related cases. Simon was a Fellow of the Indiana Academy of Science. Simon taught at many institutions of higher education, especially in the state of Indiana, where he taught at Purdue University, Indiana State, Ivy Tech Bloomington, and Indiana University Bloomington. At the time of his death, Simon was an adjunct associate professor in The School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University, where he had been since 2009. Simon's main research foci were the ecology and conservation of freshwater fishes and crayfishes. He was an expert in the early life history of fishes, the development of multimetric indices of biological integrity, taxonomy, and ecology of crayfishes, and environmental toxicology. A prodigious researcher, Simon authored or co-authored 16 books and over 130 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Particularly noteworthy is his series on Reproductive Biology and Early Life History of Fishes in the Ohio River Drainage and his Fishes of Indiana: A Field Guide. He directed the completion of several M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations at Purdue University and Troy State University. However, most of his mentoring was spent on undergraduate students, where he supervised over 60 projects dealing with fishes and crayfishes. Melanie Perello, currently a Ph.D. student in Earth Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, remembers “As my teacher, he gave me and other students the opportunity to develop research projects and publish with him. Working with Dr. Simon started me down the path as a research scientist and has had profound effects on my life.” Simon spent the last half-decade plus teaching Ichthyology and mentoring students in undergraduate research at The Ohio State University's F.T. Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. All enjoyed listening to Simon's stories about sampling fish, classic rock, John Mellencamp, Big Ten basketball, and working for the federal government in environmental fields. He told these and other stories with a wink and mischievous grin. He also had an uncanny knack to organize competitive volleyball games between the different courses held at the lab. His passion, humor, and ability to bring real-world experiences to his teaching and research benefitted all his students. He will be greatly missed at Stone Lab, in the Great Lakes region, and beyond.