John E Randall

[ScubaWithTurk]

My condolences to you and your family.

I would love to read his memoirs.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Sorry if my original post was not clear. I am not his son. I was married to his daughter.
Thank you all for the kind thoughts and words.

I understood you but wasn't aware that you are married to his daughter. Please accept my very deepest sympathy for you both and your children.

 

[bakodiver391]

I met him years ago here in the Marshall Islands. I am not one but I know that most Pacific fish aficionados would cite Jack as the inspiration that brought them to this field. Certainly a giant in the field and a great loss.

 

[aviator8]

I send you my condolences for the your loss, and the loss of a pioneer to our community.

 

[clownfishsydney]

One of the great's when it comes to the marine sciences. A big loss. My thoughts are with your family.

 

[Hank49]

In 1998 Jack and my daughter Sandy came to Malaysia when I was living there. I picked them up in Singapore and we drove north to dive Redang Isles. Sandy had just graduated high school.
So the first dive there with a shop on Redang, we all stayed together....except Jack...which I gather he was notorious for.....he had swam off after some fish...and actually surfaced, crossed over a little sand bar between two little islands, and went down again on the other side.
After we all surfaced, we spent about 20 minutes searching for Jack. The DMs were a bit angry more than concerned.
They said, "who is this old guy? What is he doing".
To which I replied, "well, you see all those fish books in your shop? And under the name of the fish, you see the name....Randall, on a lot of them"?
Yes.
"Well, that old guy is Randall".
They treated us like royalty after that. Jack even found what he believed was a new species of cardinal fish if I recall....and Malay Fisheries said we had to leave the specimen he collected with them, but they would send it to him. They didn't...
It was fun diving with him. He showed me different species of shrimp gobies. I just laid....oops, I mean hovered above the bottom....watching him photo them.
He loved the water and always wanted to do another dive....at age 74?
Amazing man.

 

[chillyinCanada]

In 1998 Jack and my daughter Sandy came to Malaysia when I was living there. I picked them up in Singapore and we drove north to dive Redang Isles. Sandy had just graduated high school.
So the first dive there with a shop on Redang, we all stayed together....except Jack...which I gather he was notorious for.....he had swam off after some fish...and actually surfaced, crossed over a little sand bar between two little islands, and went down again on the other side.
After we all surfaced, we spent about 20 minutes searching for Jack. The DMs were a bit angry more than concerned.
They said, "who is this old guy? What is he doing".
To which I replied, "well, you see all those fish books in your shop? And under the name of the fish, you see the name....Randall, on a lot of them"?
Yes.
"Well, that old guy is Randall".
They treated us like royalty after that. Jack even found what he believed was a new species of cardinal fish if I recall....and Malay Fisheries said we had to leave the specimen he collected with them, but they would send it to him. They didn't...
It was fun diving with him. He showed me different species of shrimp gobies. I just laid....oops, I mean hovered above the bottom....watching him photo them.
He loved the water and always wanted to do another dive....at age 74?
Amazing man.

Did there come a point in time when he completely up diving or was he always willing to go for a bimble?

 

[Hank49]

He did a dive with Sandy and his grandson on his 90th birthday.
But through his 80s....I don't think he dived much.
He was always warning me about ciguatera. I would send him pics of the big snappers we were shooting in Belize.

 

[Searcaigh]

My sincere condolences to you and the family.

When I first started diving in the Red Sea back in the 1980s the most important fish ID books purchased were written by John E. Randell, especially the waterproof one.

 

[AfterDark]

A life well lived! My heart felt condolences @Hank49.