Another sad day for the hobby

[prattreef]

Seems like only yesterday I was making a very similar post ( actually it was a few months ago), but the hobby lost another fine man and committed aquarist today. I am saddened to report that Greg Schiemer passed away this morning following a a year long battle with cancer. I'm not sure how many of you knew Greg personally ( he lived in Westchester), but many more of you knew him through his numerous articles for Aquarium Frontiers, Advanced Aquarist, Aquarium Fish and Reef Annual magazines. He was a frequent speaker at aquarium events and was truly a seminal figure in the hobby keeping full blown Acropora filled reefs long before most knew it was possible. His knowledge of fish and husbandry abilities were second to none and the same can be said for his willingness to help others.

In the coming weeks, the painful and considerable task of dismantling his prolific aquariums will be undertaken and plans are under way to honor Greg and sell off equipment and livestock to help out his family. I believe his wife intends to put any proceeds into a college fund for his 2 children. I'll keep you posted as details are worked out.

Randy

 

[Dace]

Sorry to hear this. My condolences

 

[KathyC]

How sad, and with 2 children yet to go through college. My condolences to you Randy and his family.

 

[House of Laughter]

Randy,

As always, let me and Russ know where we can help - tried calling Lydia today - of course the phone was busy all day :frown:

Truly a sad day and sorry to say I never had the pleasure of meeting him. For anyone who has never seen the tank, even in it's worse days (most recently) it still blew me away to see how amazing it is.

My condolences to the whole family.

Jim

 

[grisha]

rest in peace a good man.... god bless his family

 

[jhale]

I'm sorry I never got to meet Greg, I heard many good things about him.

My condolences to his wife and children.

 

[meschaefer]

 

[POSEIDON]

Man, sorry about losing your friend Randy. Keep your head up. My condolences to you and his family.
God Bless

 

[daisy]

Randy - thank you for giving us the chance to grieve with you and to support you in your grief.



I'm sorry for your loss, and for ours.

You know we'll be here when you need us.

 

[LouZoo51]

This is like losing the Godfather of reefkeeping,sorry for your loss:frown:...

 

[masterswimmer]

Randy,
I'm so terribly sorry for this tragic loss. I know how close you were. May he rest in peace.

I'm sure when his wife finds the strength to part with his beloved reef, the members of MR will surely step up for an unbelievably worthy cause.

May god bless Lydia and the kids.

Amen,
Russ

 

[PalmTree]

The best to his family and reefkeeping has lost a great member.

 

[Breezp]

mayb they should see if an aquarium will buy one of his reefs, i know the maratime aquarium in norwalk has a very dissapointing reef tank.... nevertheless they would not have been able to keep it as he would. It saddens me to hear of his loss, but saddens me even more that i did not know him. Terribly dissapointing. I believe that if he did love his reef as much as he did that it should not be dismantled but should be kept in his honor, the only problem is that two children still need to go to college, we need to devise a plan to help his family and his reef. Im sure he would have done the same for us.

 

[House of Laughter]

Photo

Give you an idea of what this reef is like - here is another photo.

House

 

[prattreef]

Thanks everyone for the warm thoughts. Some of the more spectacular animals will certainly be kept as a legacy to Greg. Joe Y.at Atlantis already has the literally dozens of RBTA's ( the RBTA in Nanoreefer22's tank is one of them) that filled one of his tanks and a gigantic T. derasa and they will be incorporated into the Anemone tank display at Atlantis. I hope to showcase a few things too here at Pratt.

 

[Breezp]

how big were his tanks, and where are there more pics i can look at....

 

[prattreef]

The main reef is 500g but it was tied in to 2 other tanks one containing the anemones --- 100g??? and a 50??? holding the giant clam. There is also a hex SPS tank and another soft coral tank and JBJ 24 nano with an L. carmabi in it. I'll work on pics--- most of the published ones were in print and not on-line. It is featured in Paletta's Ultimate Marine Aquariums book.

 

[Breezp]

we should have a moment of silence at the frag swap on sunday for him....

 

[Pseudo]

Wow,

This is the man that got me started in the sps hobby. Sad to hear that he passed. Anything that they need just let me know.

Kasei

 

[FRY]

My condolences to the whole family