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Timothy Richard Parsons, biological oceanographer, OC, FRSC (born 1 November 1932 in Colombo, Sri Lanka; died 11 April 2022 in Victoria, BC). Parsons received his doctorate in biochemistry at McGill and worked as a research scientist in Nanaimo, BC, for 11 years, as a Secretariat of UNESCO in Paris for two years, and as a professor of oceanography at UBC from 1971 to 1992.
Research
Timothy R. Parsons is best known for studies on the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem and for the use of large experimental seawater enclosures to study the biological effects of pollutants. He published over 100 scientific papers and two well-known oceanographic texts. He was the organizer and chief scientist for the first Canadian transpacific oceanographic cruise aboard CNAV Endeavour in 1967. He was the scientist-in-charge of the first successful application of commercial fertilizer to a large lake (Great Central Lake, BC) for sockeye salmon enhancement.
Honours
Timothy R. Parsons was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in 1978. In 2001, Parsons was awarded the Japan Prize. In 2005, He was invested as an officer of the Order of Canada. In 2007, Parsons received an honorary doctoral degree in sciences from the University of Victoria.
