A longtime Stony Brook University professor who dedicated his life to the environment and teaching was honored by the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) with the naming of the R. Lawrence Swanson Marine Laboratory at Flax Pond.
Professor Lawrence “Larry” Swanson joined Stony Brook University in 1987, and in addition to teaching, he also served as interim dean of SoMAS and director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute (WRMI). His research focused on coastal protection, waste management and the stewardship of Long Island’s waterways.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on May 11 at the laboratory in Old Field, near the historic Childs Mansion. The site is a 146-acre state-protected tidal wetland and marine research facility dedicated to ecological study, conservation and education. The land is owned by the NYSDEC and used by Stony Brook University, and the site serves as a natural laboratory for studying coastal ecosystems.
The event, moderated by Paul Shepson, dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, honored Swanson’s contributions to Stony Brook and Long Island’s environment, while highlighting the history, achievements and future of the Flax Pond lab and sanctuary.
Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith said that the Flax Pond laboratory is a place that represents the heart and soul of Stony Brook’s mission around research.
“The Flax Pond marine lab isn’t just a lab. It sits on a place of living discovery that provides our exceptional and inspiring students, our faculty and our researchers access to closely study an ecosystem of precious marine life right here on Long Island Sound,” Goldsmith said. “Today, we aren’t just celebrating the new lab equipment or the renovations, we’re really celebrating what this sanctuary means for our community, for our students, for our faculty and for the endless possibilities that it holds to greatly impact the future of our oceans and our marine life.”
Provost Carl Lejuez reflected on the research of Swanson and his colleagues and said the naming of the lab was an appropriate way to honor that work. “When you think about how hard the work of trying to fight back against climate change is, to have moments where you can just stop and say, ‘The right thing happened today.’ That’s what makes events like this special,” Lejuez said.
Swanson was an enthusiastic advocate for the Flax Pond marine lab and was heavily engaged in efforts to secure upgrades to the lab and the building, which was built in 1967 to create a fully functioning shellfish hatchery to help clean New York waterways around Long Island. He died in 2020 at the age of 82.
Suffolk County Legislator, former State Assemblyman and Stony Brook alumnus Steven Englebright MS ’74, who worked closely with Swanson over the years, called Swanson one of the giants of science in the history of Long Island. “It was a privilege to know him, an honor to work with him, and we miss him dearly,” Englebright said. “His contributions, however, live on.”
Other speakers included Martin Gary, DEC director of marine resources, and Old Field Mayor Tom Gulbransen. Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker was also in attendance, representing the South Fork and Southampton, where the Marine Sciences Center is located at Stony Brook Southampton.
Kaitlin Giglio MS ’17, a former graduate student of Swanson’s and assistant director of the SoMAS graduate program in Marine Conservation and Policy, said, “Larry was a pillar of the marine science community, a detail oriented scientist, a dean, a leader, a teacher and a mentor. Larry’s leadership was guided by a strong sense of environmental stewardship. It didn’t stop at the edge of the lab or the classroom or his office — it followed him everywhere. It extended into every part of his life and his career.”
The lab oversees the advanced study of issues such as sea level rise, seaweed growth and the impact of pollutants on species diversity. It also includes several shellfish hatcheries, where young clams and oysters are nurtured before being moved to bays on the North and South Shores.
The $9 million renovation of the lab featured a number of improvements, including long pipes extending into the pond to extract water samples and an upgraded pump room to help study how organisms in the pond respond to warming waters.
Giglio concluded the ceremony with a poem written by Swanson — part of a 2015 extra credit assignment that he assigned to his undergraduate students, in which he also participated — that captured his love of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and the coastal environment he fought so hard to preserve.
Rocky coast, sandy shore.
A lonely soul explores treasures past, debris galore.
Scattered flotsam, jettisoned and awesome.
A lighthouse looming, foghorn booming.
Dusk arrives, Chessie beside
to wander and saunter, to roam,
chase ducks by the brace and geese by the gaggle,
only to straggle back to the shore, soaked to the core.
Warmed by a fire that tends to inspire
the lonely soul and the Chessie
to dream of fortunes that will ride on morrow’s flooding tide
in the way of great birds and debris from the sea.
Larry was my graduate advisor. He and his work touched so many lives. It’s great to see such well-deserved recognition of his impact.