WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2019 17 cat herder (aquaculture administrators and scientists being the cats) and was so good at dealing with differing personalities. This was so apparent in the years of work I was privileged to share with him on the US Shrimp Farming Program as well as the WAS Board. This is a profound loss. • Geoff Allan Meryl was a great WAS President and huge supporter of aquaculture. He will be missed. Input from Others The following input was sent to us in response to a request from the WAS Home Office for input from colleagues of Meryl Broussard. • Cheryl Simco (Bill Simco’s wife) Meryl made Bill laugh, deep belly laughs, tears-in-the-eyes laughs, and I loved him for that. It was so fun to watch them talk about misadventures on field trips to Mexico and raising fish in the basement of South Campus (at the University of Memphis) and, of course, his Texas times. • Ron Hardy (University of Idaho) Meryl always had a twinkle in his eyes and seemed to be amused at some of the goofy things that I said in meetings and elsewhere, but he always maintained a calm, professional demeanor. • Gary Jensen (U.S. Department of Agriculture) I first met Meryl in Nazareth, Israel in 1983 at an international tilapia conference. He was working in the Philippines and I was working in Egypt. We reunited in 1990 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in our roles as National Program Leaders. I had the pleasure and privilege to work by his side for many years. He was a person of the highest integrity and of sound principles. He always believed that people and programs do make a difference. He had a unique ability to engage and interact with a broad range of people of diverse backgrounds, roles and positions. His voice was soft and often accompanied by his unique grin, but when he spoke people listened. He was truly dedicated to his work and the best interests of our diverse aquaculture community and aquaculture’s forward development. • Gene Kim (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) Dr. Broussard has been a leader in the aquaculture community throughout his 30+ years of public service. Among his many roles he held before serving as USDA NIFA Associate Director of Programs, he was National Program Leader for Aquaculture at NIFAs predecessor agencies and Chair of the Joint Committee on Aquaculture under the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. He made a difference in U.S. aquaculture. He will be missed. • J. Scott Angle (Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture) I first met Meryl decades ago. And as a new Land-Grant University administrator at the University of Maryland, Meryl was both welcoming and helpful to me. The last six months during which we worked together at NIFA were no different. He was a solid source of information and advice that was invaluable to me and all of NIFA leadership. He will be irreplaceable but his impact and legacy at NIFA through his work will remain. Dr. Broussard will be remembered by the agency as a key figure in the development of the modern organization, a major influence in the long term growth in resources that the agency has to carry out its mission, a representative of his profession that raised the profile of aquacultural science within the Federal science enterprise, and a colleague to those at every level that helped NIFA make a difference in peoples lives. • William Yingst (graduate student contemporary at Texas A&M) He was working on his Doctorate and I was a rookie fish farmer working on my Masters. We became friends, quite possibly because of our fondness for beer and the fact that he could cook Cajun food. Meryl’s knowledge of aquaculture techniques and catfish made him a valuable source of information. I tried to keep my fish alive. He showed me the ropes without making me feel bad about my knowledge deficits. I worked alongside him in the ponds and the lab, helping him with broodfish, harvesting and seining. Of course, the Meryl sense of humor made all of this work fun. Although I had not been in touch with Meryl for many years, I am saddened by his passing. I fondly recall the memories of our being Texas Aggies back in the day. • Robert Brick (a faculty member at Texas A&M and shrimp culture researcher who was affiliated with the Aquaculture Center) My strongest memory of Meryl was his sense of humor. Final Remarks from the Authors Meryl Broussard holds a special place in our hearts and those of our families. While he was introduced to us as a student or faculty member at the universities he attended, Meryl became not only a valued colleague but a good friend. Each of us had interactions with him over the years that varied, including visits to the Philippines, Washington, D.C., WAS meetings, and various other venues and occasions. We all came together to honor the life of Meryl Broussard at a memorial service in Memphis, Tennessee on June 15, 2019 and had the opportunity to meet many of his family members, including his wife, one of his sons and his mother. At the memorial service, it was revealed that Meryl was a good golfer, who competed annually with a few of his friends for a hand-made trophy, which Meryl apparently won each year. The passing of Meryl Broussard is in many ways as painful as the loss of a close family member. He was a low-key gentle giant in aquaculture development, both in the United States and internationally. We echo the comments of others in saying “He will be missed.” — Prepared by Robert Stickney with Kenneth B. Davis and Nick C. Parker He was a person of the highest integrity and of sound principles. He always believed that people and programs do make a difference. He was truly dedicated to his work and the best interests of our diverse aquaculture community and aquaculture’s forward development — GARY JENSEN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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