Frances G. Carey, 1978

Frank Carey was born in New York City and raised in Rockville, CT. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1954 with a B.S. degree in biology, spent two years at Yale University completing biochemical research for his doctoral thesis, and received his Ph.D. degree in biology from Harvard University in 1960. After working in postdoctoral positions at Duke University, he joined the staff at WHOI in 1961 as a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow to work in the laboratory of John Kanwisher of the Biology Department. He was appointed an Assistant Scientist in 1963 and was promoted to Associate Scientist in 1967 and to Senior Scientist in 1985.

Trained initially as a biochemist, Frank studied the chemistry of development in the cecropia silkworm and other insects. Soon after his arrival at WHOI his work focused increasingly on physiological interests and was soon devoted to marine mammals, especially to the physiology, functional anatomy, and behavioral ecology of large fishes. Described by a colleague as "undoubtedly the world's authority" on large fishes, Frank studied many living fishes, including the great white shark, mako shark, porbeagle shark, great blue shark, the bluefin and other tunas, the swordfish, and the blue marlin. He made many contributions to the topic of warm-bloodedness in some of these big fishes, long thought to be cold-blooded like other fishes. Most recently, Frank was studying blue sharks by attaching satellite transmitters to follow their migration. He wrote an article on the blue shark, "Travelers in the Empty Blue," in the summer 1992 issue of Oceanus magazine.

Frances G. Carey died December 11, 1994 in West Falmouth, MA.