January, 2000 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 18, No.9 
In May of 1999 Ray was honored by The 
Crustacean Society with its Excellence in 
Research Award, in recognition of the quality 
and impact of his many contributions published 
over 4 decades, and the critical role he played 
in the founding of TCS and its early 
development during his tenure as President 
(1981-1983). A special volume of the Journal 
of Crustacean Biology dedicated to him, 
containing papers by many of his colleagues, 
will appear later this year. A biographical 
sketch and bibliography will also be included 
in this volume. 
Ray had an extraordinarily productive and 
distinguished career at the Smithsonian 
Institution where he excelled in every aspect of 
curatorial responsibility. He was a leader in the 
development of innovative techniques for 
sampling specimens and study literature, and 
was energetic in the promotion of 
carcinological research and zoological 
nomenclature at a national and international 
level. As a tireless collector he amassed more 
than 50,000 decapod and stomatopod for the 
Museum and other institutions. The penetration 
of his papers in other fields of research, and 
reputation on the international level largely due 
to his monographic works and collaborations 
with scientists worldwide, are truly impressive. 
As many of you know, his research focused 
primarily on the systematics of stomatopods 
and decapods. He published a total of 278 
papers, and named solely or jointly with co¬ 
authors, 279 species, 138 genera, 5 
subfamilies, 19 families, and 3 superfamilies of 
extant decapods and stomatopods, and at least 
15 genera and 27 species of fossil decapods.” 
Rafael Lemaitre 
Department of Invertebrate Zoology 
National Museum of Natural History 
[reprinted with the author’s permission from 
the CrustL list server] 
“What a series of losses we have suffered in 
carcinology these last several months. Now we 
mourn the passing of Raymond Manning. The 
sense of sadness is almost overwhelming for 
those of us who knew him personally. How 
can one adequately memorialize a person who 
in a very real sense was the “godfather” of us 
all? It was Ray Manning who pushed for the 
formation of The Crustacean Society. It is hard 
to realize now that many people at that time 
were not convinced such a society was 
necessary. Yet through it all, Ray held firm. 
He had a clear vision of what was needed and 
how we had to go about getting it. He inspired 
the rest of us on the organizing council to “see 
it through.” Those were troubled times, the 
late 70s and early 80s, both economically and 
politically — not the best time to launch a 
scientific society. We councilors affectionately 
called Ray our “ayatollah” and looked to him 
for guidance. After the foundation period was 
over and the first real elections were held, there 
was absolutely no doubt in the minds of 
anyone that Ray Manning had to be our first 
president. That first term was even extra long 
(3 years instead of 2); we couldn’t see how 
anyone else was going to get us through the 
critical first years. Combined with his 2 years 
chairing the organizing council, he was at the 
helm for half a decade. 
Of course, Ray was correct in his vision. The 
Crustacean Society, the Journal of Crustacean 
Biology, the society’s various outreach 
programs all stand in testimony to this. At his 
laudatory banquet at the annual summer 
meeting in Lafayette, Louisiana last Spring, 
there were many speeches, personal 
recollections, slides of events in his career, and 
(most importantly of all for Ray) lots of good 
food and drinks with friends. But his parting 
words to us were, “And remember, you’re all 
here tonight because of me.” The crowd roared 
with laughter, but it was a double punch line. 
We were indeed gathered that evening to 
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