Marine Biological Hall Of Distinction: Dr. Howard Lawrence Sanders
- ThePersaudCatalog
- May 25
- 8 min read
This article is part of our collection known as the Marine Hall of Distinction. In this special collection, we will discuss marine biologists who have served marine biology and oceanography the most. We do this to commemorate these marine biologists and show gratitude for everything they have contributed to our oceans. Today's marine scientist is Dr. Howard L. Sanders.
Dr. Howard L. Sanders was a foremost expert on the benthos, the sea floor, in both shallow & deep-sea environments. Across his lengthy career, he worked with many different institutions, across a variety of different topics & oceans. Incorporating technology into his work, & building a partnership with the sea, he is respected for his work with oil spill ecology, benthic ecology in the deep sea, & evolutionary ecology.
His Formative Years & Education
Howard L. Sanders was born on March 17th, 1921, in Newark, New Jersey, to father Issac Sandusky, & mother Marion Rosenfield Sandusky. His father opened a lumber business, & sadly passed away when Dr. Sanders was in his teens. He legally changed his name from “Sandusky” to “Sanders” during his teen years, for an unknown reason. He spent his high school years in Newark, officially graduating in the year 1940,
Unfortunately, young Dr. Sanders was struck with a condition affecting his thyroid, which is a gland in a person’s neck that assists in the production of hormones, resulting in a year of bedridden illness, & ultimately, a thyroidectomy. As with many young men, he was drafted to serve in World War II from 1942 to 1945. Serving his time in the Army Signal Corps, a branch dedicated to communications, he was deployed to mainland Europe, fighting honorably in the Battle of the Bulge. His experience in the war profoundly affected him, causing him to experience PTSD-like symptoms & grow a lifelong disdain for SPAM, as well as camping. It is said by his wife, Lillian Selchen Sanders, as well as his mother, that he experienced night terrors during the first years of their marriage, often waking up in a great panic.
Upon exiting the war, he promptly entered an undergraduate program at Rutgers University, before transferring over to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver for a degree in forestry. This didn’t last long, as he soon switched over to Zoology, a change that would set the course of the rest of his career in motion. He would work as a fisheries aide in Alaska & Florida during his degree, an experience which would become very useful later on. Graduating early in 1949 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he quickly progressed to a graduate degree with the University of Rhode Island’s new Oceanography program.
It was during his degree that he would meet his wife, Lillian, in the same bowling league as him. Lillian was a nurse, working in a public hospital post-undergraduate degree. They fell deeply in love with one another, marrying in a ceremony in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1949.
Working alongside scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as a Casual Research Assistant, he learned became more entrenched in the field of Oceanography. He finished his Master’s degree in 1951, with his thesis titled “The Herring OofBlock Island Sound”. Upon graduating, he quickly moved on to his P.h.D at Yale University, studying under the illustrious G. Evelyn Hutchinson, widely considered to be the founder of modern ecological studies. Under his guidance, he would develop a project that eventually morphed into his P.h.D, studying Benthic communities in Long Island Sound. This set off an interest of his to study the individual species of, & learn more about the community structures of benthic ecosystems.
During his P.h.D research with Hutchinson, he pulled a most peculiar creature out of the sediment while sorting through sediment samples. This creature was small enough to be missed at only a few millimeters long, however, it caught his eye for various reasons. This animal, which he later realized was a kind of shrimp, was blind, segmented, & rather primitive in form.
Hutchinson advised him to temporarily pause his dissertation study to learn more about this creature, which was later discovered to be a part of a wholly new taxonomic class. Sanders chose to do so, creating a new crustacean class named Cephalocarida, a new family named Hutchinsonellidae, & a new genus named Hutchinsoniella.
Finally, at the age of 34, Dr. Howard Sanders graduated with his P.h.D, shortly before his first son, Robert, was born. Not only this, but his discovery made national news, landing him a position with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
His Career & Personal Life
Dr. Howard Sanders joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as a Research Associate in 1955, working with Bostwick Ketchum to expand research into Intertidal Benthic Communities.
At first, upon moving to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the family of 3 rented a home 2 miles away from the institute. However, a new addition to the family, his second son Mark, caused them to officially purchase their first house in 1958 in Falmouth, Massachusetts, a house that would become their children’s childhood home. His wife, Lillian, began taking on a role in community affairs around this time, & began working with the Visiting Nurse Association, as well as the store of the artist & First Lady of Falmouth, Mary Mavor. She joined the store in 1972, & moved up to managing the store in 1980.
Now, during his early years at the institute, Director Bostwick Ketchum wanted to change the course of the aquarium to focus more on offshore ecology, sparking tension among the researchers. Many were not willing to pivot from Intertidal & Coastal research to Deep Sea or Open Ocean research, with many going so far as to quit. Dr. Sanders, being a rather tranquil & docile person, did not leave his position. At first, he was not enthusiastic about shifting to focus on Deep-Sea Ecology, however, he was interested in testing some of his methods for sampling organisms in the intertidal in a new environment such as the deep sea. This open-mindedness would serve him well, with him realizing that he could utilize techniques that he had perfected during his research on the seafloor of Long Island Sound, and in research on the seafloor of the deep sea.
He began to test out these techniques on a scientific expedition aboard the vessel Atlantis, & with the help of freshly minted scientist Robert Kessler, it worked. The device that he used resembled a dredge anchor, which was used to collect large samples from along the seafloor & bring them back aboard the boat for study. The technique would become standard practice for marine biologists & ecologists studying the benthic layer of the deep sea across the world until the 1990s when a new method took over. This method was far more advanced & effective than any method before it, showcasing that the deep sea was not a barren wasteland, but a thriving ecosystem with abundant biodiversity equal to coral reefs or tropical rainforests.
Working steadfastly & rising through the ranks, he was promoted to Associate Scientist in 1963, & Senior Scientist shortly thereafter in 1965.
In 1969, an oil barge struck a reef & beached in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, releasing 4,000 barrels of No. 2 oil into the ocean. This caused a massive ecological disaster, causing oil to become buried in the sediment for decades to come. Sanders, who at the time was working on Benthic Ecology, rallied a group of students & young scientists to take samples from the freshly affected Buzzards Bay. With the end goal of evaluating the effects of the oil spill on the local ocean fauna & flora, he collaborated with multiple agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, to release a technical report on the incident.
A 10-year-long study from 1969 to 1979 conducted by Sanders ended up shining a light on the devastating impacts that oil spills have on marine organisms, & paving the way for new standards regarding oil spill cleanup & restoration of communities affected by such accidents.
However, expectedly, this sparked the rage of large oil companies & their political proponents. All scientists involved were targeted by politicians & press alike, however, none of them faltered.
In 1975, Emperor Hirohito of Japan became interested in his work on crustaceans, as the Emperor would do work with marine arthropods & mollusks in a laboratory of his own. Emperor Hirohito decided to pay a visit to Dr. Sanders during a state trip to the U.S., & visited him at Redfield Laboratory in Massachusetts. The pair viewed Sanders’ collection of marine specimens, discussing their morphology, & evolution.
Lillian Sanders, Dr. Sanders's wife, would go on to buy From Far Corners in 1986, the same year that Dr. Sanders retired from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute with the rank of Senior Scientist Emeritus, going on to manage it for 6 years. During this time, she went on purchasing trips to all corners of the world to find things for the shop, from Peru to Beijing.
Sadly, while on a trip in 1990, she suffered a severe stroke, causing doctors to believe that she would never walk again. She worked through the pain, & exemplified resilience by going through physical therapy to walk with a walker, & eventually a cane again.
Unfortunately, during this time, Dr. Sanders began developing Alzheimer's Disease, which rapidly began progressing. Although his wife fought to keep him in his home for as long as possible, his speech suffered from ataxia, leading to his placement in an assisted living facility. It is said that the last memory he could recall was that of a memory he had in 1948, during his time working in Alaska as a Master’s degree student for the summer.
Lillian visited him routinely until his untimely death on February 8th, 2001. The contributions that Dr. Sanders made in this field are immense, & still just as relevant, valuable, & remarkable today. It was said that although his work often kept him away from his family until 8:00 in the evenings, he was still a very family-oriented person, & would often entertain spirited conversations about his latest discoveries, research, & missions, none of which were in vain. He was survived by his wife, Lillian Selchen Sanders, his 2 sisters, Leah Green & Betty Deutsch, his children, Robert & Mark Sanders, & his grandchildren, David & Sarah Sanders.
His contributions to the field of oceanography, marine ecology, & marine biology permanently altered the field, leaving a lasting legacy of scientific research & discovery.
His Awards, Achievements, Accomplishments, & Honors
He was one of the world’s leading experts in Marine Benthic Ecology, which is the study of ecological habitats along the seafloor.
Throughout his life, he published approximately 68 papers on trail-blazing research in a variety of fields, particularly evolutionary ecology, marine benthic ecology, & oil spill ecology.
He served on the board of review for the Journal of Marine Research, Limnology, & Oceanography, a prestigious feat.
He participated in 12 dives in the deep-sea submersible known as the ALVIN for various research purposes.
He discovered an entirely new class of Crustaceans, named Cephalocarida, making national news & sparking a scientific debate about crustaceans in the process.
He pioneered a field-wide technique used to collect specimens from the seafloor.
He was elected to survive on the board of the National Academy of Sciences in 1983.
Directories / Credits
Citation No. 1: “Howard Lawrence Sanders”, Written by Richard C. Brusca & Isabelle T. Williams, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the National Academy of Sciences.
Citation No. 2: “Howard L. Sanders, 79: Studied Effects Of Oil Spills”, Written by Wolfgang Saxon, & Published on April 23rd, 2001. Published by the New York Times.
Citation No. 3: “Howard L. Sanders”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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