In Memory of Claude Monniot

On 12 July 2008, the world of marine research lost a great and passionate colleague. Claude Monniot, a French marine biologist and a specialist on ascidians died suddenly from stroke at the age of 72.

Photo from Ascidian News*

Claude was born in 1936 at Fontenay/sous/Bois (Val de Marne). He used to read, and a book written by Y. Le Danois, “La vie étrange des rivages marins” seized his interest to marine biology. He earned degrees in Botany, Geology and Zoology. He took a specialization in biological oceanography and pursued a master’s thesis about ascidians. Eventually, he also finished his doctoral thesis, “Étude systématique et évolutive de la famille des Pyuridae”.

C. Monniot showed eagerness and passion to increase knowledge and to discover more on ascidians around the world as he involved himself in numerous cruises and expeditions. He, together with his wife Françoise published over 160 publications in relation to oceanography, biogeography, marine ecology and taxonomy including describing and naming new species of tunicates.

Over the years, he was not only an academe, a professor at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, and assistant director in the laboratory of marine invertebrates, but also a loving husband for his wife, Françoise, a great father for her daughter, Nadine, and a caring grandfather for his two grand daughters.

Source:    Ascidian News*

Written by:

Edited by:    Nicolas Bailly