John E. Heyning's research grew out of a passion for sea
The Hermosa Beach biologist and graduate of North High gained renown for his work with marine mammals. He died at the age of 50.
By Lee Peterson
Staff Writer

Whale and dolphin expert John E. Heyning, the noted marine mammal curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County known as much for his enthusiasm and wit as his scientific accomplishments, has died.

The South Bay resident was 50 years old, and had battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, for the past 3½ years.



Despite his early demise, Heyning has long been an internationally recognized marine biologist. He spent his entire professional career at the museum, working tirelessly to expand the institution's research and outreach on cetaceans.

As leader of a stranded marine mammal scientific response team, he performed numerous necropsies to investigate the animals' deaths and built the second-largest collection of marine mammal specimens in the world.

He traveled the globe to lead expeditions for the museum and to conduct research. Along the way, he made many important findings, especially on beaked whales. He also teamed up with another scientist to discover that there are actually two species of common dolphin, the short-beaked and the long-beaked.

Born in San Jose on Jan. 6, 1957, he died Saturday at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.

A 1975 graduate of Torrance's North High School, Heyning was an avid surfer and scuba diver, drawn to the study of marine mammals because of his love of the ocean.

He started at the museum as a volunteer, becoming a collection manager, then curator, then in 1999 deputy director of research and collections.

In addition to his scientific research and publications, Heyning had a knack for explaining whales and dolphins to nonscientists. He actively reached out to the community, sharing his knowledge of and passion for cetaceans on whale watch trips, to scuba clubs, schools and elsewhere.

"He talked to kindergartners as well as he could talk to crusty old Ph.D.s. He could get down on his hands and knees and make a kindergartner understand thermal regulation," said his wife, Corinne Heyning.

Heyning, his wife and two children made their home in Hermosa Beach.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who first met Heyning in a marine biology class 28 years ago, said Heyning was a rising star of science by age 24, and his inspirational enthusiasm changed her life, making whales the focus of her own career.

Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale expert who teaches marine biology at San Pedro High School's marine science magnet and is director of the Gray Whale Census for the American Cetacean Society's Los Angeles chapter, said it wasn't just Heyning's scientific mind that served him so well.

He was an accomplished lecturer because of his infectious enthusiasm, lighting the passion for whales in many others, she said. It was also his sense of humor: "The first time I sat down and had a meal with him, I don't think I laughed so much, ever," she said.



At the museum he was known for his affable personality, exotic plants and Hawaiian shirts. After his promotion to deputy director in 1999, Fridays became "Hawaiian shirt day" at the museum.

Schulman-Janiger noted that Heyning was also a fine artist, working in sketches with charcoal and pencil, as well as sculpture. He also wrote poetry.

He was one of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific's "trustees of the Pacific," and helped with the aquarium's recent "Whales: A Journey with Giants" presentation. He has consulted on exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and has had a long association with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro.

"He will be missed as a scientist, both as an extraordinary scientist who was using his knowledge to help conserve whales and he'll be missed because he was a great colleague who was very willing to share his knowledge," said Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific.

After his ALS diagnosis in October 2003, Heyning started researching the disease, and following up on his own ideas about its cause. Mrs. Heyning said that her husband, thinking that there was an infectious component to the malady, put himself on AIDS antiviral drugs, a move that preceded a noted ALS researcher's clinical trial on antiviral medications.

For all his personal and professional achievements, Heyning felt his most important role was as a father, which is why he fought the disease so hard.

"His family was the light of his life," Schulman-Janiger said.

In addition to his wife, Corinne, Heyning is survived by a daughter, Marlene; a son, Nico; his mother, Johanna Alving of Torrance; his father, John M. Heyning of Texas; a sister, Yvonne Gregory of South Carolina; a brother, Eric of Torrance; and a brother and sister in Australia, Laura and Marc Heyning.

A celebration of Heyning's life will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in the North American Mammals Hall on the second floor of the Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles.

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Thomas Cook, 87, of Caledonia died Saturday, February 17th, 2007. Memorials may be made to ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS Association, PO Box 127, Elbridge, NY 13060.