After graduation with an A.B. in Biology from Harvard College in 1964 and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Miami in 1969, John J. Walsh served as: Research Assistant Professor of Oceanography in the University of Washington during 1970-1975; Head of the Oceanographic Sciences Division and tenured Oceanographer at Brookhaven National Laboratory during 1975-1984; Graduate Research Professor during 1984-1991 and Distinguished University Professor during 1991-2016 at the University of South Florida. As an expert on the systems ecology of continental shelves, he has written/edited two books and >100 other publications over the last 45 years. He has also been a Guest Investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during 1980-1983; received a Gold Medal of Science, University of Liege in 1980; Chaired the NASA Ocean Color Science Working Group in 1981-88; and elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1990.