Leo Margolis
Canadian parasitologist (1927–1997)
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Leo Margolis, OC FRSC (December 18, 1927 – January 13, 1997) was a Canadian parasitologist. He was a pioneer in the use of parasites for identification of Pacific Ocean fish stocks. His discoveries became a crucial point in negotiations over pacific salmon fisheries, as it could now be determined where each individual fish spawned, in the rivers of Canada or the United States.
Leo Margolis | |
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| Born | December 18, 1927 |
| Died | January 13, 1997 (aged 69) |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Parasitology |
| Institutions | Pacific Biological Station |
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received a B.Sc. in 1948, a M.Sc. in 1950, and a Ph.D in 1952 from McGill University. He joined the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia, where was a government scientist, advisor, and diplomatic representative. He became Head of the Fish Health and Parasitology Section of the Station in 1967 and was appointed Senior Scientist in 1990. He suffered a heart attack in 1997 while walking home from work and died several days later, at the age of 69, after being airlifted to a Vancouver hospital.[1]
Research
Margolis published a number of papers on fish parasites, but he is famous in the whole community of parasitologists for a paper[2] on "the use of ecological terms in parasitology" published in 1982. In 1981, the American Society of Parasitologists appointed an ad hoc committee "to establish working definitions of a few terms used and misused by parasitological ecologists", and Margolis was the chairman of this committee. The paper[2] contains the definition of widely used terms such as prevalence and has subsequently been cited thousands of times.
Honours
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1975
- Officer of the Order of Canada, 1990
- Honorary Member Atlantic Canada Society of Parasitologists, 1992
- Honorary Member British Society of Parasitology, 1994
- Gold Medal Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, 1995
- Distinguished Service Award American Society of Parasitologists, 1995
- Honorary D.Sc., St. Mary's University, 1995
Eponymous taxa
A number of taxa have been named in the honour of Leo Margolis. These include genera such as Margolisia Bray, 1987 (Digenea, Opecoelidae), Margolisianum Blaylock & Overstreet, 1999 (Nematoda, Philometridae) and Margolisius Benz, Kabata & Bullard, 2000 (Copepoda, Lernaeopodidae), and species, such as Allopodocotyle margolisi Gibson, 1995 (Digenea, Opecoelidae), Steringophorus margolisi Bray, 1995 (Digenea, Fellodistomatidae), Acanthochondria margolisi Kabata, 1984 (Copepoda, Chondracanthidae), and Philometra margolisi Moravec, Vidal-Martínez & Aguirre-Macedo, 1995 (Nematoda, Philometridae). All these are parasites.