In Memoriam: Richard S. Brown

Richard S. Brown August 12, 1966 – November 19, 2023 Richard (Rich) S. Brown was a dedicated father, husband, colleague, and friend to many. He was also an active member of our global fisheries profession (an AFS member since 1991), where he was a master of mentoring, collaboration, and tackling difficult research challenges to protect freshwater fisheries across the world. As a group of Rich's friends and colleagues from around the globe we reflect on Rich's professional contributions and share memories of our valued time together. Rich began his professional training at South Dakota State University in their fish and wildlife program, not far from the family farm where he grew up in Milbank, South Dakota. Like many of us, Rich got the “itch” for research and headed to the University of Alberta for his MS studies, where he worked with Bill Mackay. Unlike many of his colleagues who were fair weather biologists, Rich decided to study the winter biology of Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii in the Ram River (Brown and Mackay 1995), which launched a decade or more of work that cemented Rich as a luminary in winter biology. Rich then moved east to the University of Waterloo for his PhD with Geoff Power. There, he studied several fishes in the Elora Gorge in the Grand River, Ontario. Working in the winter forced one to be creative and that is where Rich excelled. He used rock climbing techniques to get safely down when needed and collected data using cameras set in the river to study fish and in trees to record river ice dynamics. He also pioneered the use of sensor tags for the study of winter biology to learn what fish were doing under the ice (Brown et al. 2000). In one study, he convinced an ice dynamics laboratory in New Hampshire to allow him to bring fish into their facility and studied the effects of supercooling on the physiology and behavior of salmonids (Brown et al. 1999). Working with ice engineers, he learned to appreciate the many ways in which ice and winter processes were relevant to fisheries professionals and shared that work with our community through a seminal paper (published in Fisheries) that has guided the next generation of winter biologists (Brown et al. 2011a). Rich (now Dr. Brown) headed west to begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. His strong background in telemetry was a perfect addition to the team and he soon developed an independent research program and was hired as a staff scientist. In his early days at the PNNL, he worked on issues related to adult fish passage and energetics of migration in the Pacific Northwest (Brown et al. 2006). He also pushed the envelope on improving tagging practices and the study of juvenile fish migration (Brown et al. 2011b). He was also one of the first scientists in the Pacific Northwest to explore in detail how pressure changes experienced by juvenile salmonids migrating downstream through a hydropower dam's turbines affected their survival (Brown et al. 2012). These insights are being applied today in the design and installation of new turbines in the lower Snake River (Trumbo et al. 2013). While at the PNNL, Rich had the opportunity to bring his expertise to the international arena. Rich conducted work in Australia, the Lower Mekong River, and Brazil. In particular, his work on defining barotrauma associated with passage through hydropower turbines was globally relevant. In collaboration with Australian and Lower Mekong colleagues, that work was extended beyond hydropower into river infrastructure more generally (Brown et al. 2014) and to other species (Brown et al. 2013). Those two seminal papers have set a new paradigm for river infrastructure development and are being implemented on four different continents (i.e., Oceania, North America, Asia, and South America). Rich was pivotal for the development of a barotrauma laboratory in Brazil, which paved the way for training and capacity building of a new generation of barotrauma scientists in the country (Beirão et al. 2015). Following on from the success of that work, and working with colleague Daniel Deng (from the PNNL), he effectively set up Annexe 13 (Fish and Hydropower) as part of the International Energy Agency—and it led to the development of a global set of best practice hydropower guidelines launched in 2023 (Nielsen and Szabo-Meszaros 2022). Along the way, Rich was a mentor to many, helping others develop and apply their creativity to research problems. Rich was able to bring a team from the Mekong River to the AFS Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida, which was a career highlight for several of the participants. Not only did he invite the participants to attend, he chaperoned them, and gave them the full Florida experience for the duration of their stay. Rich was also good at providing praise and making one feel good about their contributions, no matter how small. He was a huge supporter of his staff, always looking for opportunities for them to take on leadership positions, and international opportunities that were relevant to their own career development. He spent countless hours with his team pouring through data or outlining a manuscript on paper taped to the wall. Rich could have done it more efficiently himself, but saw the value in guiding others through the process. We were fortunate to work with Rich in many different capacities and learn and laugh with him. Work time often faded into time for socializing and vice versa and this allowed for extended brainstorming sessions. Rich was always thinking of new and exciting research ideas and some might have thought he was overly-committed to work. In fact, he was simply passionate about his research and answering complex questions, but Rich was deeply committed to his family. Rich enjoyed gardening, making dinner with his wife, Dianna, and teaching his sons Jacob and Cole all about tools and woodworking. He was a master at grilling steak, and he made delicious, home-cooked Thai curry with Thai basil from the garden. He spent his free time with his family, searching for agates and other interesting geological deposits and shooting targets, reminiscent of his time growing up in South Dakota. Rich Brown will be missed by many. We are fortunate that his memories and scientific legacy will live on.

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