Obituaries

After an almost four-year battle with kidney cancer, Frank Shaughnessy, 64, died on June 21st, surrounded by his beloved family. Frank was the husband of Christel Rasmussen Shaughnessy whom he married in Ebeltoft, Denmark, 29 years ago. He was the father of Dion and Fiona Shaughnessy, whom he loved without reservation. Frank was predeceased by his parents Anne and Jim Shaughnessy.

Frank grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and attended St. Johns in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, for high school. After majoring in Biology and English, Frank graduated from St. Lawrence University in New York in 1982. He earned a masters of science in botany at University of New Hampshire in 1986 and a PhD in marine botany and ecology from the University of British Colombia in 1994. He taught at UBC for a year before working as a Post-Doc at Louisiana State University.

Frank started a position at Cal Poly Humboldt in August of 1996 as a biology and marine botany professor and worked there until his retirement due to illness in August of 2021. For several years, he co-chaired the Biology Department. Frank’s main research interest focused on the population and community ecology of marine algae and seagrasses. He was a founding member of the Coastal Ecosystems Institute of Northern California (CEINC). This year’s Humboldt Bay Symposium was dedicated to Frank for all his contributions to estuarial and marine ecology in Humboldt Bay and the North Coast (see below for scholarship information for students who share Frank’s interests). Although research was important to Frank, he found teaching truly fulfilling. He loved taking his students on field trips all around the North Coast. Frank spent endless hours working to ensure every one of his students had the opportunity to succeed. He won the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2021, as well as the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Disabled Student Group. Frank’s priorities are encompassed in the title of the last lecture he gave on campus: “The Classroom’s Human Connection: Personal Engagement Between a Student and Instructor and What That Means for Equity and Inclusivity During the Learning Experience.”

Frank was a lot more than the “seaweed guy.” Aside from his family and his work, he pursued several other passions. He was a dog lover, an accomplished woodworker and major cyclist (completing seven Tour of the Unknown Coast Rides and one Death Ride). A masterful gardener, Frank always appreciated when passerby complimented or photographed his profusion of flowers.

A progressive thinker and environmentalist, Frank held himself and those around him to a high moral standard. He was courageous, inquisitive, supportive, kind, determined, witty and, at times, stubborn and opinionated.

Besides his wife and children, Frank leaves behind his sister Anne Shaughnessy and her partner Susan Epting of Groton, Massachusetts and his sister Maura Shaughnessy and her husband Bernie Regenauer and their children Colin and Brendan Regenauer of Wayland, Massachusetts. Frank also leaves behind his devoted friends, particularly those in the Arcata, California area who supported the family throughout Frank’s cancer journey.

A memorial service will be held in Arcata, California in early fall. Memorial donations may be made to: 1) Students who share Frank’s interests: Please make check out to CEINC (address CEINC, PO Box 806, Bayside, CA 95524) and put Frank Shaughnessy Scholarship fund in the note, and/or 2) Maura’s Pan Ma Challenge Ride (MS0008 egift#) which benefits Frank Shaughnessy Kidney Cancer Research fund at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (pmc.org).