Arthur R. Marshall
Arthur Raymond Marshall Jr. (1919 – 1985) was a scientist and Everglades conservationist who spearheaded efforts to preserve Florida’s wetlands. Marshall spent 15 years of his career working as a biologist and administrator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As a private citizen he was a visionary scientist and conservationist who led efforts to restore the Everglades ecosystem.
He also wrote what is referred to as “The Marshall Plan” - a blueprint for Everglades restoration that is still viable today. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, author of the 1947 book River of Grass, paid tribute to Marshall in some of her writing. In Florida: the Long Frontier, she wrote, “Although my phrase 'River of Grass' first awakened people to the notion of the Everglades as a river, it was Arthur Marshall who filled in all the blanks."
In 1984, a year before his death, Marshall was named “Conservationist of the Decade” by the Florida Wildlife Federation. Today, three living memorials bear his name: the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach, the Arthur R. Marshall Eminent Scholar Chair, a million-dollar endowment in the Department of Zoology at the University of Florida, and the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, a non-profit which carries on the legacy by educating the public about the ecology of the Everglades.