LeRoy Headlee Passes Away
The co-founder of GARF helped advance the reefkeeping hobby.
By
Cassandra Radcliff |
June 25, 2012
GARF co-founder LeRoy Headlee (September 24, 1949 to May 28, 2012) passed away this Memorial Day. GARF, the Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation (garf.org), is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the knowledge of reefkeeping. Under Headlee, GARF’s live rock aquaculture research produced many new techniques for sustaining marine life and propagating corals, including the development of “Aragacrete,” an alternative to wild-harvested live rock made of concrete and aragonite. GARF grows many species of SPS corals, mushrooms, etc., with the intention of building a genetic bank in Idaho with collections from around the world.
Headlee is a name in the aquarium hobby, and his writings in Marine Fish Monthly magazine and on garf.org inspired many reef aquarists to try new and different corals and reefkeeping techniques. Headlee pioneered the use of superglue to attach frags to rock, promoted the use of clean-up crews (including crabs and snails) to keep aquariums clean, and he encouraged aquarists to frag their corals and spread them around in the hobby.
Headlee was dedicated to marine conservation but had many other interests, including freshwater fishkeeping, terrestrial plants, Chinese antiquities and guitars. LeRoy Headlee is survived by his wife Sally Jo, an accomplished artist who is also quite involved in GARF.
The family requests that supporters of LeRoy Headlee should keep his dream alive by making donations to GARF at 1726 Merrill Street, Boise, ID, 83705.
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LeRoy Headlee Passes Away