Leading Army Ant Expert Dies in Connecticut

An email from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology's Department Head Kentwood Wells:

"I am very sorry to report that our friend and colleague, Carl Rettenmeyer, passed away last Thursday night, April 9, after a long illness. 

Carl was born in Meriden, Connecticut in 1931.  He graduated from Swarthmore College and received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1962.  He was on the faculty of Kansas State University for about 11 years before joining the faculty of the University of Connecticut in 1971 as a Professor.  He served as Head of the Section of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology from 1980 to 1983, and then as Executive Officer of the Biological Sciences Group from 1983 to 1985.  During his career at Kansas State and later at UConn, he became a world-famous expert on the biology of army ants, and was the leading expert on the huge array of insects and other invertebrates that live in association with army ant colonies.  He did extensive field work in Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Kenya, and Tanzania.  He also was known as an expert photographer, and his photographs grace the pages of scores of books on ants and tropical rain forests.  He also worked tirelessly to document the lives of army ants on film and video.

Carl was the Founding Director of the Connecticut Museum of Natural History, which he transformed from a mostly virtual museum headquartered in his lab in Torrey Life Sciences in 1982 to a full-fledged museum that has continued to inspire generations of Connecticut naturalists.  It was through Carl's persistent efforts that the Museum became a major focus of public outreach beyond the boundaries of the University.

For those of us who arrived here as young Assistant Professors, what we will remember most about Carl are his efforts to make new faculty members immediately feel welcome in the department, and the warm hospitality shown by Carl and Marian.  The annual fall picnics held at the Rettenmeyer family cabin in Bethlehem, Connecticut, served as an introduction to the social life of the department for most new faculty members, and many of us raised children who looked forward each year to swinging on the rope swing hanging from the huge tree in the yard, playing on the "nut train," and following Carl on adventurous hikes up and down the steep slopes and wooded ravines behind his property".

The first time I met Carl and his wife Marian was in the 2001 BioBlitz in Tarrywhile Park, Danbury CT. He had set up Berlese funnels and I was sorting my own material while he graciously passed on any mites to me. He was quiet and I was shy, but he was careful to make me feel more than welcome - more like an "expert" in my field. I remember visiting Carl's house in Storrs, CT to help him with some issues with his ant database. We took a walk around his yard as he excitely identified all of the specimens to me and offered to split them for Stacey's and my new house in Watertown. 

"Hi Mike, Glad to hear that you are working at Taft School.  I have driven past it hundreds of times but never went inside any building.  I hope they don't work you too hard.  I forgot what your wife does and where she works.  I understand you own a house in Watertown.  Seems like nice town.  Plants are still available if you ever visit."  

Our last email conversation I asked him if he would be attending the 2007 BioBlitz. He replied 

"I think I am coming to BioBlitz.  It would be great if you would come and ID mites." 

Unfortunately the chemo was changed and he was more tired than ever. He sent me some mites to have ID'd for his movie "Astonishing Army Ants", "a DVD based on 35 years of research in Central and South America 60 hours of video has been edited to 55 minutes to show a complete picture of the behavior of the Large Swarm Raiding Army Ant, Eciton burchellii"