Over Labor Day weekend, Shoals Marine Lab (SML) celebrated one of its heroes: second director John "J.B." Heiser, Ph.D. '81, a Cornell faculty member who headed the marine science teaching and research lab on Appledore Island, located in the Gulf of Maine. He served as director from 1979 to 1994.

The event, dubbed HeiserFest, featured a symposium Sept. 1 with lectures by 16 colleagues whose careers he helped to shape. Speakers traveled from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, as well as Hawaii and Alaska and 10 other states, followed by a reception and dinner at the Discover Portsmouth Center in Portsmouth, N.H. The next day, 50 guests traveled to Appledore, including all five of SML's former directors and Willy Bemis '76, the lab's current director.

"We had our pig roast and then we had our J.B. roast," Bemis said of the ribbing and stories told during the Appledore trip.

Symposium speakers included a childhood friend who traveled to marine laboratories with Heiser in the 1960s as well as Heiser's students from as far back as 40 years ago, including a current doctoral student in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology. Jeff Corwin '73, professor of otolaryngology and neuroscience at the University of Virginia's School of Medicine, for example, discussed 40 years of research on the anatomy, physiology and development of hearing systems and his long-term goal to determine how to regenerate hair cells in the ear, which people permanently lose during aging while organisms such as chickens can replace them.

Andrew Kane '81, associate professor and director of the University of Florida's Aquatic Pathobiology Laboratory, spoke of his work bridging environmental and public health issues, including efforts to quantify health impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill by determining how much seafood people living near the site actually eat.

And Jacqueline Webb '79, professor of biological sciences at the University of Rhode Island, discussed her work on the anatomy of special sensory systems of fishes.

"I was struck by the wealth, breath and distinction of what the graduates who presented papers have done over the years," said John "Jack" Kingsbury, professor emeritus of botany and the founding director of Shoals from 1966 to 1979.

Heiser, a traveler and diver who has taught in the field on every continent and visited more than 70 countries, first attended SML in 1967 to explore his interest in marine biology. Twelve years later, even before completing his Ph.D., he was selected to direct the Shoals lab.

"Being director was a gift because you saw people changing, growing and really getting into things, which you often don't see on campus," said Heiser. "It's a different atmosphere [at Shoals]. So many people go away from there saying, 'That was one of the best experiences I have ever had.' It was a great pleasure to see and has always been something I cherished."

A renowned teacher, Heiser is credited with expanding SML's curriculum as well as the infrastructure that Kingsbury had built from scratch during his tenure. Heiser also attracted many new faculty and staff who had long careers at the lab.

In the 1980s, Heiser oversaw the launching of SML's 47-foot vessel, the R/V John M. Kingsbury, to transport people and supplies from the mainland and support offshore research and educational cruises. It gave SML "an independence that the lab didn't have before," Bemis said.

Heiser found a kindred spirit in Frederic Martini, Ph.D. '74, a roommate during graduate school and author of a noted physiology textbook who now resides in New Zealand. Martini helped Heiser operate SML and develop its curriculum. Together, they became authorities on Atlantic hagfish after discovering collecting localities near Appledore.

Heiser co-wrote "Vertebrate Life," a seminal textbook now in its ninth edition that integrates anatomy, paleontology, behavior and physiology.

He currently lives in Dryden, N.Y., guest lectures at Cornell and continues to travel the world.