Donald Wishart Strasburg

Donald Strasburg, 83, passed away on July 25, 2008. He leaves behind his wife of 56 years, Donna, whom he married in Honolulu, Hawaii. He received his PhD in 1953 from the University of Hawaii and was also a 1947 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Dr. Strasburg worked for the Pacific Oceanographic Institute (POFI), Dept. of the Interior, a short time before accepting a position at Duke University, where he was a zoology instructor and assistant director of Duke’s marine Laboratory. He returned to Honolulu and spent 13 years at POFI doing field work in the Pacific studying marine life after the atomic explosion at Eniwetok. He also became Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries research submarine program in the study of feeding habits of fish in and around Hawaii. Don was offered a job at the Electric Boat company in Groton, Connecticut. He was the special technical assistant to the manager of underwater technology and was responsible for the advanced systems development and specialized marine science research projects. He returned to work for the Government at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC where he was Branch Head of Environmental Sciences. He retired in 1985 and pursued his hobbies of traveling to South America to collect butterflies, beetles and moths. Dr. Strasburg also leaves behind a sister, Janet Abbott, who lives in El Cajon, California and a nephew, Stephan and his wife and two children. Local arrangements entrusted to Starks & Menchinger Family Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Rd; St. Joseph, Michigan 49085.