Dear Fiends of Biology, It is with a heavy heart that we report to you the passing of our colleague, James “Jim” Murray.

Jim Murray had an outsized impact on our department: from population genetic work on Cepea nemoralis, to his work wringing his hands documenting the extinction of Partula [snail] species on the island of Moorea, to keeping evolutionary biology alive at Virginia, to staring down facilities management over the sewer system as director of Mountain Lake Biological Station, to guiding Virginia wilderness areas through the US congress (what he called “a comedy in three acts” during his final and inspiring seminar to our department). He was the consummate Virginia gentleman holding court at his home, the historic Bentivar farm, with Whippets and Guinea hens wandering the grounds. 

We will forward information from his family about any opportunities to honor Jim’s memory.

Photo credit: LUCA DICECCO, UVA Magazine