Coastal Sciences professor Gregory Stone was a pioneering scientist who wasn’t afraid to speak truth to power, colleagues and contemporaries say.
Stone passed away suddenly the morning of Feb. 17 after being hospitalized with an unknown illness, according to family friends.
A memorial service was held Monday.
“His passion for what he did was so great, it was infectious,” said Christopher D’Elia, Dean of the School of the Coast and Environment.
D’Elia said Stone served the school in multiple capacities as a teacher, administrator and researcher.
“First and foremost, he was a professor,” he said. “That’s what all of us are at our core.”
Stone taught classes and supervised numerous graduate students.
Stone also served as director of the Coastal Studies Institute, the well-known research branch of a University.
“It’s been around for 60 years,” D’Elia said. “It’s highly esteemed around the world.”
Stone also administered the WAVCIS, or wave-current information system, program, a cutting-edge network of sensors located throughout the Gult of Mexico.
“That’s not a trivial task,” D’Elia said. “[WAVCIS] can make predictions for people who are going out to sea.”
But Stone’s most important work may have been as a researcher.
“He was a superb researcher,” D’Elia bragged. “He’s well known for his studies on forces that affect the coast.”
Stone was an influential voice in the continuing discussion about Louisiana’s perilous coastal erosion. Stone made a name for himself challenging engineers and policymakers for projects he thought would be dangerous or unsuccessful, D’Elia said.
“Greg said what he believed and what the science told him,” D’Elia said.
Len Bahr, a former University coastal sciences professor, paid tribute to Stone on his popular insider policy blog “The LA Coast Post.”
“Dr. Stone understood the difference between practical and bogus engineering approaches to minimize coastal damage,” Bahr wrote. “He was willing and anxious to proffer advice on the difference, so as to inform the federal and state agency staffers who formulate plans for coastal protection/restoration.”
Both D’Elia and Bahr say the greatest loss is for Stone’s family — he left behind a wife, Ann, and a 16-year-old son, Carter.
“The loss to Greg’s family is huge,” D’Elia said. “We have the greatest sympathy for them.”
 
 
 
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contact Mathew Albright at [email protected]