Dr. William "Bill" Carr
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Athlete, avid fisherman, scientist, environmentalist and inventor, Dr. William Edward Statter Carr ("Bill") passed away peacefully on Friday, January 29, 2021 in St. Augustine, FL. He was 85 years old and was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Mona Lee (Wolfe) Carr. Bill is survived by his four children - William Carr Jr. (Francis), Deborah Carr (Nancy), Michael Carr (Deborah), Teresa Carr Dillinger (Terry). There are also three grandchildren, James Carr, Liam Dillinger, Marlee Dillinger and great grand-daughter Jillian. Bill is also survived by his only sibling, his brother, Lawrence Lindsay Statter Carr Jr. (Tina) of New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Born in Coronado Beach, Florida (known now as New Smyrna Beach) on October 6, 1935 to Lawrence Lindsay Sr. and Hazel Lovina (Wright) Carr. "Billy" would almost always be found with either a fishing rod, a football, a basketball or a baseball in his hand. His natural athleticism and a love of fishing the local waters of New Smyrna dominated his early life. Carr was very good at many sports, but baseball was the one for which he excelled. His pitching arm and batting average would earn him the title of Outstanding Athlete in Volusia County in 1953. He was then recruited by the University of Alabama to play baseball. While there, he helped them win the 1955 SEC Championship. As a pitcher, he also batted 300 and was recruited by the Cleveland Indians, but an injury cut his MLB dream short. This sent Carr on a completely different path of academic and scientific endeavor. One that would take him and his family to Stetson University (Deland, FL), and then Duke (Durham, NC) for his Ph.D., and ultimately the University of Florida (Gainesville and St. Augustine, FL).
Carr played travel ball with "Castles in The Air" - a fast pitch softball team that won several state championships. The Carr house was often the epicenter of sports activities for the neighborhood. A hoop and backboard were signature fixtures at the Carr house and kids from blocks away could be found playing in the driveway day and night. Everyone knew that when Dr. Carr joined a game of hoops, that crushed toes and flying elbows were part of it. Bill always found ways to help his kids whether in sports, the school science fair or music. He even sacrificed the two-car garage so that his son's rock band had a place to practice. Some neighbors were not so thrilled with this. Lastly, he was a huge Gator fan. Football, basketball, baseball, it didn't matter - if there were Gator uniforms on the TV or radio, he would watch or listen to it.
Bill became an award-winning pre-med professor at UF and went onto to conduct scientific research that was driven by a question he had as a young boy fishing in New Smyrna. How does a fish detect a piece of dead shrimp or other dead bait in the water? In the early 1970s he was recruited to help develop a new lab on the property of Marineland of Florida. Bill moved his family to St. Augustine where he would not only go on to become the first faculty member of The C.V. Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, he also helped design the entire 10,000 sq/ft facility.
It was here that his pioneering studies and published papers about the chemosensory and olfactory (sense of smell) in spiny lobsters, shrimp, and fish earned him national and international acclaim. Carr was often invited to guest lecture around the world. He took his
family along when he could. In 1984, Bill and a colleague were asked by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to be part of a delegation to help reboot the Chinese university system which had been all but crushed by 16 years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Carr was also a steadfast environmentalist who worked fervently to save wetlands and estuaries from over-development and poor environmental regulation. He defended angler's and oystermen's rights to these pristine fishing grounds for fishing and pleasure. He helped local activists get significant parts of the St. Johns and Flagler County waterways added to the Natural Estuarine Research Reserve system (NERR) by NOAAH which, in turn, led to the creation of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve in North Ponte Vedra.
Bill Carr went on to perfect an artificial bait that would come to be known as Fishbites and in 1999, he and his family started their own business, Carr Specialty Baits.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Whitney Marine Lab or the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Go Gators!!