Visits to this page since 6/7/12:
Obituary of hobbyists
This page is dedicated to hobbyists, photographers, breeders, dealers and researchers that made great contributions to our invertebrate-keeping hobby and trade. They will be missed.
* Aphabetically-listed by last name.
* If you think there is a person that made great contributions to our hobby and has passed away, please send us as much info as possible to list them on this page by contacting us by clicking HERE.
James Hammond Carmichael, Jr. (Pete)
Born Dec. 24, 1930. Died on Nov. 12, 2011. Pete was a great photographer that had a big interest in jumping spiders. Pete has been called "the world's foremost shell photographer" as well. Pete's photo of a Red Widow in Ranger Rick magazine got me very interested in that species as well as other widow spiders. I will miss Pete. We had great adventures traveling throughout Florida photographing beautiful spiders.
• Pete's obituary information on legacy.com
• Pete's photography displayed on his site awesomespiders.com
• Local newspaper article about Pete's life after he died
Donations can be made to the Tyler Carmichael Trust at Bank of America (Florida Account) or Arbor Day Foundation, who has preserved 100,000 sq. feet of endangered tropical rainforest in his name.
www.Arborday.org
Born Dec. 24, 1930. Died on Nov. 12, 2011. Pete was a great photographer that had a big interest in jumping spiders. Pete has been called "the world's foremost shell photographer" as well. Pete's photo of a Red Widow in Ranger Rick magazine got me very interested in that species as well as other widow spiders. I will miss Pete. We had great adventures traveling throughout Florida photographing beautiful spiders.
• Pete's obituary information on legacy.com
• Pete's photography displayed on his site awesomespiders.com
• Local newspaper article about Pete's life after he died
Donations can be made to the Tyler Carmichael Trust at Bank of America (Florida Account) or Arbor Day Foundation, who has preserved 100,000 sq. feet of endangered tropical rainforest in his name.
www.Arborday.org
Rob Cherico "Satellite Rob". Died shortly after Nov. 2009 at the age of 53 or 54 yrs. He was one of the early dealers in the hobby around 1993 with his business "Itchy By Nature". At first, he was known for supplying Brachypelma and Avicularia spp., but after 2005 he developed a big enthusiasm for centipedes. Rob was known just before he died for his lively and enthusiastic conversations with hobbyists about centipedes and other invertebrates. Back in 1993, I personally saw Rob's famous Avicularia bicegoi adult female that measured over 8" in leg span. I've never seen an Avicularia that large since.
Dr. Richard Hoffman
Arthropod Biologist. Died 6/10/12.
• Assistant Director, Biological Sciences, VA Mus. of Nat. History
• Curator Emeritus, Dept. of Recent Invertebrates, VA Mus. of Nat. History
• Research Associate, American Mus. of Nat. History
• Research Associate, FL Collection of Arthropods
• Research Associate, Museu d'histoire Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland
(See more about Dr. Hoffman's incredible career by clicking HERE and HERE.)
I meet Dr. Hoffman during the summer of 2000. He was gracious with this time and I was very impressed with his knowledge of millipedes and the incredible collection of arthropods that he was the curator for at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. I had started to correspond with him via phone calls and emails back in 1993 about millipede identifications. He was THE expert for any millipede identification. He will be greatly missed by all millipede enthusiasts for this expertise amongst others.
"At the scientific level, Richard was the most knowledgeable, broadly based, and versatile arthropod biologist I have personally ever met or known. Give him any eugnathan milliped from anywhere in the world, if not even any helminthomorph milliped, and he could do something with it, put some sort of subfamilial, tribal, or lower name on it, or else declare with near certain knowledge that it was a new whatever! Truly a living, walking, and breathing encyclopedia of knowledge on this amazingly speciose and diverse class of arthropods that biologists, supposedly trained observers of the natural world, have somehow managed to miss!! He carried at least 95% of his knowledge with him. It was unavoidable. There is no piece of technology, no computer, no tape recorder that could possibly get it all down, and even if he had been able to just sit down and talk into a recorder for years on end, a lot would have been lost when they ran out of disks or tapes and had to run to to the store to purchase more cases of disks. " (Quoted from Dr. Rowland Shelley.)
I'm sure Dr. Hoffman would greatly appreciate any donations to the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Click HERE. I expect the VMNH to create a special research fund for donation in Dr. Hoffman's name soon.
"Bob" Santiago. Died March 1, 2013, Ft. Myers, FL.
Enthusiastic invertebrate hobbyist and employee of Glades Herp., inc. back in the hey day of the Reptile and Invertebrate hobby of the U.S. (1996-2000). Very friendly guy that loved the hobby and everybody loved his enthusiasm and great humor. Bob's three favorite loves: family, friends and the invertebrate/reptile hobby. Many of us will miss Bob. :)