Ronald Benjamin Linsky (June 16, 1934 – August 14, 2005) was an American marine biologist who served as Executive Director of the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) for 15 years, where he was responsible for overseeing an institute dedicated to supporting cooperative research to create new sources of water and to protect freshwater and marine environments. Under his leadership, NWRI grew into the third largest water research institute in the United States.
Background
Linsky was born during the Great Depression on June 16, 1934, in Los Angeles, California, to Walter and Helen Linsky. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) beginning in 1952, but put his education on hold when he volunteered to join the army. After 21 months as a private in the Army Security Agency, he was discharged for medical reasons after coming down with appendicitis, but completed his 8-year service through the army reserve. He returned to USC and continued studying biology, earning both his B.S. and M.S. degrees at the same time in 1962.
Early career
Immediately following his university education as a science teacher, Linsky began working at Westminster High School in Westminster, California. During the summer of 1963, he offered to teach marine biology as a summer school class. The course was so successful that, over the subsequent 5 years, Linsky went from biology teacher to Chairman of the Science Department at Westminster and Fountain Valley High Schools, as well as President of the District Education Association in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. He also became a research assistant at the University of California, Irvine, working in Back Bay Newport, and served on the Accrediting Commission for Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
In 1967, he was offered a job as the Coordinator of Marine Sciences for the Orange County Department of Education in Santa Ana, California. There, he developed the Floating Laboratory Program, a federally funded project that drew thousands of people to learn hands-on marine science. Twenty school districts took part in the program in its first year of operation, and in 3 years, 32,000 students and their teachers had gone to sea with the Floating Lab. The program later expanded to include extended classes for college students, such as a weekend study session on Catalina Island and short cruises through the Channel Islands.
Linsky began lecturing at various local libraries and colleges to inform people about topics such as marine mammals or ocean pollution. In 1969, he appeared at a 2-day State Marine Science Convention in Florida to encourage funding for water research. In the same year, he spent 1 month in Mexico City as a lecturer and consultant at the invitation of the Mexican Government to help develop marine science programs within the Mexican educational system. As part of that effort, he was the first North American educator to be invited to the Congresso Nacional de Oceanografica, where he conducted a 2-day workshop in oceanography for 1,200 selected educators, technicians, and scientists throughout Mexico.
Though Linsky was becoming more and more recognized as an expert oceanographer, he had no formal training in the field. Despite this fact, he held marine science workshops at the University of California system and served as an advisor to the Fullerton College Oceanographic Technology Program. He was also appointed Vice President of Educational Affairs for both the American Society for Oceanography and the National Oceanography Association. Eventually, Linsky even worked with famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau after being hired by Doubleday Multi-Media, Inc. to edit, re-script, develop, and market educational resource materials for The Undersea World of J.Y. Cousteau film series.
The Sea Grant Program at the University of Southern California
In 1970, several universities approached Linsky to recruit him to lead their ocean research programs. Linsky chose to work with his alma mater, USC, and began his career overseeing the brand-new Sea Grant Program. The program goals were to: train and educate the next generation of marine scientists and engineers; support research in marine resources management and development; and provide advisory services to the business and science communities, as well as the general public.
During his Directorship, Linsky visited 15 countries in a 3-year period to conduct research, organize international conferences, or present at leading oceanographic institutions throughout the world.