The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Michael J. Greenberg, Ph.D. fondly known as "Greenberg", former director of the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, town of Marineland, Florida, passed away peacefully on the morning of July 19 in St. Augustine, at the age of 91. Greenberg was a highly regarded researcher, instructor, and administrator-as well as a beloved member of the St. Augustine community.
Greenberg began his long tenure at the Whitney Lab in 1981. Although he formally retired from that position in 1996, his influence there and at the University of Florida continued for many years. Well into the new millennium, Greenberg held research and administrative roles at the lab.
Spanning more than sixty years, his scientific career and academic history include a bachelor's degree in science from Cornell University, a Master of Science at Florida State University, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Shortly after earning his Ph.D., Greenberg took a position as a professor of invertebrate zoology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He then-on the heels of a post-doctoral sabbatical from UI-returned to FSU as a professor in the Department of Zoology. He also served as Editor (then Editor-in-Chief) of The Biological Bulletin at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
A leading expert on invertebrate neurophysiology, Greenberg concentrated on malacology, the study of clams. His studies often focused on the specialized neuropeptides that control cardiac rhythms in the common quahog species: this work led him to institutional teaching and research positions in Hiroshima and Misaki, Melbourne, and Hong Kong.
Greenberg's scientific work was supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Dr. Greenberg's full obituary can be found here. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, September 3, 2023, 4:30-7:30pm at Whitney Laboratory.