Mote founder Genie Clark dies at 92

Famed Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium founder Eugenie “Genie” Clark died Feb. 25. She was 92.

Clark founded the laboratory 60 years ago as a one‐woman operation that was originally called the Cape Haze Laboratory with the support of the philanthropic Vanderbilt family.

A world authority on fishes, particularly sharks and tropical sand fishes, Clark was known as the “Shark Lady” and conducted 71 submersible dives as deep as 12,000 feet and led more than 200 field research expeditions throughout the world.

Today, Mote has more than 200 staffers, including 35 Ph.D. scientists who operate 24 research programs based on six Florida campuses, although scientists’ research takes them around the world.

Clark earned her Ph.D. in zoology from New York University in 1950.

The Vanderbilt family first requested that Clark travel to Englewood to give a lecture after Anne Vanderbilt read Clark’s book, “Lady With a Spear,” and urged her husband, Bill Vanderbilt to read it. In the book, Clark described a small, isolated marine biology laboratory in the fishing town of Ghardaqa, Egypt, where Clark had studied fishes for a year in 1951, as a Fullbright research scholar..

After the lecture, Bill Vanderbilt asked Clark to start a local marine research laboratory and serve as its director. There were no strings, contracts or promises attached — just a request that Clark create “something like the lab you described in your book,” Clark recalled in her 1969 memoir, “The Lady and the Sharks.”

Clark accepted the offer, and in January 1955, she moved to Placida, where the Vanderbilts owned 36,000 acres of land to open Cape Haze Marine Laboratory.

The lab quickly gained a reputation for its shark research and became a popular field station for scientists from across the U.S.
Clark left the laboratory in 1968 to join the zoology faculty at the University of Maryland. She retired in 1992 and returned to Mote in 2000 as senior scientist and director emerita.

“There was absolutely no one like Genie Clark,” said Michael Crosby, president and CEO of Mote, in a news release. “Her fascination with fishes and dedication to research changed marine science forever; her life story set an example for women in science and countless others who are striving to make a positive impact; her graciousness and warmth opened hearts and made ocean knowledge more accessible to many; and above all, her leadership and legacy sparked a tradition of world‐ class marine research and education that will continue for generations. Her passion for science and her freedom to pursue that science at Mote continue to inspire us all.”

Clark is survived by her four children: Hera, Aya, Tak and Niki Konstantinou.

Mote is planning a public service of Clark’s life in the coming weeks.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made through the Dr. Eugenie Clark Memorial Research Endowment Fund, mote.org/geniememorialfund.

For more information, pick up a March 5 copy of the Longboat Observer.