A memorial service for Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) Board of Trustees chairman Michael Naess was held yesterday, the same day four new stamps were issued by the Bermuda Post Office commemorating the centennial of the BBSR, the organisation he served for five years.

Mr. Naess died on February 1 of this year at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer. A graduate of Harvard Business School, he joined the BBSR Board of Trustees in 1997, and was made chairman in 2002. He was the second generation of his family to serve on the board following his father, Erling, who was a trustee in the 1980's.

Mr. Naess played a leading role in securing support for BBSR research and education programmes on the ocean's role in global climate change, and the connection between ocean health and human health, a BBSR statement said yesterday.

"Mr. Naess brought to BBSR a range of experience in the private and public sector on matters related to the sea," continued the statement. "Besides broad business experience in shipping and off-shore energy development, he was appointed by presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere (NACOA) in the 1970's and 1980's."

Mr. Naess, who in recognising the importance of Bermuda's mid-ocean location often called the Island "a natural marine laboratory", was then able to recruit colleagues from the NACOA to the BBSR board, including Dr. Warren Washington of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research.

According to BBSR director Dr. Tony Knap Mr. Naess's combination of business and public sector experience helped BBSR tremendously. "Michael had the ability to take scientific concepts and make a passionate case to a lay audience about the importance of marine science," said Dr. Knap.

Mr. Naess, passionate about marine science and his vision for ensuring BBSR's place in the first rank of global marine science insitutions, established the Erling D. Naess Fund for Marine Research in his father's memory to facilitate cutting-edge programmes at BBSR.

He was also chosen to lead the `New Horizon Campaign', a major fundraising initiative at the BBSR with an original goal of raising $20 million in support of operations, programmes, facilities and endowment. Begun in 1998, the International Year of the Ocean, the campaign allowed BBSR to take an early leadership role in the issue of the connection between ocean health and human health, establishing the International Centre for Ocean and Human Health, considered the first of its kind to address these issues on an international scale.

By the fall of 2002, with the campaign nearing its $20 million target, the Naess-led board realised additional support would be required to take advantage of opportunities in new fields such as ocean genomics, applying the tools of the human genome race to the next frontier: the open ocean.

As a result, Mr. Naess and the board approved the increase of the goal to $25 million to ensure BBSR had the facilities and programmatic support to put Bermuda on the scientific map in this new field as the institution entered its second century.

Mr. Naess, a father and grandfather, died at his home "Nautilus" on February 1. His memorial service was held at St. Anne's Church in Southampton yesterday at 10.30 a.m.