Posted on behalf of Harlan Dean <hdean1 at mindspring.com>
Colleagues,
We are sorry to report that our dear friend and colleague Edward Cutler
passed away peacefully on September 2, 2006. Ed was 71 years old and
died after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Ed received his Master's degree from the University of Michigan after
serving 4 years in the U.S. Navy as a flight instructor. He received
his doctoral degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1967 for his
work on the Sipuncula. He taught biology at Utica College, serving also
as Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics for several years, until
going on disability leave due to his loss of vision due to congenital
retinitis pigmentosa. Ed then moved to Cambridge, MA and continued his
lifelong study of the Sipuncula as a Research Associate at the
Department of Invertebrate Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology,
Harvard University.
Ed was devoted to his work with the Sipuncula and published many
monographs of these wonderful animals culminating with his 1994 book The
Sipuncula: Their systematics, biology, and evolution. After such an
important landmark work, he continued his studies of many other aspects
of the faunistic distributions, taxonomy, systematics and evolution of
sipunculans. Ed collected extensively beginning with the International
Indian Ocean Expedition of the R/V Anton Bruun during which he was to
collect pogonophorans for his doctoral work. They found few Pogonophora
during that expedition but Ed discovered the Sipuncula during this
cruise. His collecting trips took him, and his family, to many parts of
the globe including Europe, Japan, Russia, and Venezuela.
On a personal level, Ed had severe health problems, specially his
blindness, which impeded his ability to work with his worms, but he
never allowed these impediments get in his way. The three of us formed a
team of friends and colleagues, and Harlan became literally Ed's eyes
when examining specimens at the microscope. We enjoyed our lunches near
the museum, our discussions on sipunculan systematics and our views of
life. We were always good friends-perhaps the most disparate group of
three friends possible. And as such we will remain. Ed passed away on a
September 2nd, the same day that his two MCZ friends celebrate their
birthdays. We visited him the day before he died and he was glad to hear
that his latest revisionary paper with his former postdoc Anja Schulze
and with Gonzalo had just appeared online. We also learned from one of
his daughters that two days before passing away he made sure to compile
two sets of his reprints for each of his daughters, showing his passion
for the animals and knowing the importance of his scientific legacy. He
was always enthusiastic about his studies of the Sipuncula and was a
very generous mentor to others working with "his" animals. He was a
courageous man who will be sorely missed by all who knew him, including
his two daughters and his wonderful wife Ann.
Harlan Dean
Gonzalo Giribet
