Leo Margolis
Leo Margolis, was a Canadian parasitologist. He was a pioneer in the use of parasites for identification of Pacific Ocean fish stocks. His discoveries became a crucial point in negotiations over pacific salmon fisheries, as it could now be determined where each individual fish spawned, in the rivers of Canada or the United States.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received a B.Sc. in 1948, a M.Sc. in 1950, and a Ph.D in 1952 from McGill University. He joined the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia, where was a government scientist, advisor, and diplomatic representative. He became Head of the Fish Health and Parasitology Section of the Station in 1967 and was appointed Senior Scientist in 1990. He suffered a heart attack in 1997 while walking home from work and died several days later, at the age of 69, after being airlifted to a Vancouver hospital.
Research
Margolis published a number of papers on fish parasites, but he is famous in the whole community of parasitologists for a paper on "the use of ecological terms in parasitology" published in 1982. In 1981, the American Society of Parasitologists appointed an ad hoc committee "to establish working definitions of a few terms used and misused by parasitological ecologists", and Margolis was the chairman of this committee. The paper contains the definition of widely used terms such as prevalence and has subsequently been cited thousands of times.Honours
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1975
- Officer of the Order of Canada, 1990
- Honorary Member Atlantic Canada Society of Parasitologists, 1992
- Honorary Member British Society of Parasitology, 1994
- Gold Medal Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, 1995
- Distinguished Service Award American Society of Parasitologists, 1995
- Honorary D.Sc., St. Mary's University, 1995
Eponymous taxa