IN MEMORIAM: RAY E. ASHTON (1945-2010)

© Joseph T. Collins, 2010

Ray E. Ashton, Jr., a well-known herpetologist who specialized in Gopher Tortoise conservation and operated a research and conservation facility devoted to them in Archer, Florida, died on 11 March 2010 of pancreatic cancer. He was 64. Ray was head of the Ashton Biodiversity Research and Preservation Institute, a 200-acre preserve near Watermelon Pond in southwestern Alachua County. The facility includes an office, laboratory, library, herbarium, wet-lab, limited researcher/student housing, tortoise isolation and breeding facilities, and a diversity of native habitats.

Ray was born in Middletown, Ohio, on 30 March 1945 and came of age in herpetology at an auspicious time in the Buckeye state. During his teenage years in southwestern Ohio, he soon met an astonishing number of budding herpetologists from across that state, like-minded folks whose interest in these animals was so intense and so compelling that, to this day, they are often referred to (sometimes affectionately, sometimes otherwise) as "The Ohio Mafia." And Ray was one of them, pursuing undeterred with a single-minded purpose the knowledge necessary to have a notable career in herpetology that spanned nearly a half century.

In 1971, Ray Ashton received a master's degree in biology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a thesis entitled "A Study of the Movements, Home Range, and Winter Behavior of Desmognathus fuscus (Rafinesque)." He went on to write many scientific articles as well as handbooks to the reptiles, turtles, crocodilians, and amphibians of Florida, and in 2008 published his best-known work, “The Natural History and Management of the Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin),” co-authored with his wife, colleague, best-friend, and close companion, Pat. He was also co-owner of Ashton, Ashton and Associates, an environmental consulting firm that specializes in sustainable and environmentally sound projects with an emphasis on ecotourism, tourism, greenways, parks, museums, and similar developments.

Ray also served on a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panel that helped draft guidelines for the protection of Gopher Tortoises, classified as a threatened species in the state. His conservation efforts also took him around the world and across the nation. He was one of the founders of a number of herpetological organizations in several states, including those in North Carolina and Florida.

Ray Ashton served as education director at two state museums (in Lawrence, Kansas, at the KU Museum of Natural History and in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the State Museum of Natural Science), as director of travel planning for three major travel firms including the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and worked for two consulting firms before semi-retiring to found the institute and develop the Ashton research station.

His mother, Betty, wife Patricia, children Kevin and Elizabeth, and grandchild Xander survive Ray. For more information about Ray Ashton's accomplishments, please see

AshtonBiodiversity.org

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Ashton Fund at

SunTrust Bank
14420 West Newberry Road
Newberry, Florida 32669-2765


VenomLand extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Ray Ashton, particularly to Patricia. Ray was a champion of all wildlife, and a fun person to be with in the field; his passing is a great loss to us all. In the future, many a Gopher Tortoise will safely walk a Florida sand ridge because Ray was alive and watchful in protecting them.