Carl Nathaniel Shuster Jr.

NOVEMBER 16, 1919 – MAY 28, 2020

Dr. Shuster was considered the world’s greatest authority on Limulus polyphemus, the American Horseshoe Crab, which he fondly called “the Animal”. In 2001, the U.S. Government set aside hundreds of square miles in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey and Delaware coast named the “Carl N. Shuster, Jr. Horseshoe Crab Reserve”. When Dr. Shuster was over 80 years old, Harvard University asked him to write a book dedicated solely to the horseshoe crab. He recruited colleagues to be co-authors and the book, The American Horseshoe Crab, was published in 2003. He also wrote and co-authored numerous articles on “the Animal”. When David Attenborough produced his “Life on Earth” series, Dr. Shuster assisted him with his Delaware Bay mating season footage for the horseshoe crab segment.

Dr. Shuster was born on November 16, 1919, in Randolph, Vermont, the son of Dr. Carl N. Shuster, Sr., and Edith Gilman Shuster. His father was a mathematics professor who wrote numerous math textbooks for various publishers, principally Charles Scribner’s.

Dr. Shuster was a 1942 graduate of Rutgers University, where he earned varsity letters in three sports, was Editor-in-Chief of the Scarlet Letter yearbook, and was a member of Cap and Skull Society and Chi Psi fraternity.

During World War II, Dr. Shuster flew 27 missions over Europe, many as lead plane navigator, and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After returning from the War, he did graduate work at Rutgers with his much-beloved mentor, and oyster expert, Dr. Thurlow Nelson, did research at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and then obtained his Ph.D. from New York University.

Subsequently, Dr. Shuster was Director of the University of Delaware Marine Laboratories, Director of the U.S. Northeast Shellfish Sanitation Research Laboratory, worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, served as the Chief Environmental Advisor to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and was an Adjunct Professor at William & Mary.

His colleagues in marine biology conducted a symposium in Dr. Shuster’s honor at Cape May, New Jersey, in 2016. All of the speakers commended him for being so collaborative in his approach to science, willingly sharing his data with others, suggesting to others ideas for further research, and sharing credit with others, all traits they said were sadly all too lacking in today’s scientific circles.

For many years Dr. Shuster helped public school teachers incorporate horseshoe crabs and related environmental topics in their student education plans, and led an annual census of “the Animal” on Delaware Bay beaches during the Spring mating season.

Throughout his life, Dr. Shuster was active in Boy Scouts. He achieved Life scout. He organized the merit badge counselors program in Newark, DE, recruiting heavily from the Univ. of Delaware faculty; and in Rhode Island, in the 1960’s he founded one of the first co-ed explorer troops in the U.S., focused on marine biology, for which he received the Silver Beaver award.

Carl was pre-deceased by his younger brother John Gilman Shuster. He is survived by his wife of 76 years, Helen Irwin Shuster; his sister, Jean Shuster Weasner; five sons, George (wife Susan), Kenneth (wife Julie), Chris (wife Barbara), Carl III, and Forrest, the first four sons were unique in being two sets of twins born less than a year apart; six grandchildren, one step-granddaughter, and nine great-grandchildren.