Robert Harold Reavis, 63, passed away on April 22, 2021. He graduated from the Lester B. Pearson School in British Columbia in 1976. He completed his B.S. in biology at the University of Washington, where he was the president of the "Underdogs" diving club. While working at The Wet Whisker (which later became Seattle's Best Coffee) in the Ave Arcade, he was the first to introduce an espresso machine there; "Henry's Blend" was originally named "Roberto's Blend" after him. He continued in academia as a zoology doctoral student at UC Berkeley, where he studied the sex-changing abilities of the Tahitian ava-ava fish in Moorea, completed his post-doctorate at the University of Idaho studying the blue-banded goby, and worked for both ASU West and Glendale Community College.



Robert taught on-going marine biology classes, learned from and worked with the Ama divers of Japan, ran a scientific diving program in Catalina Island through a collaboration between ASU and UC San Diego, and provided 401 essential, on-going reef surveys of critical reefs off the coasts of Mexico and Hawaii and three other regions for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation across 20 years, where he engaged hundreds of students through the Volunteer Fish Survey Project. He logged 3,595 dives in his career. He participated in a dream research study in the summer of 2019, where he gathered and analyzed data on orca populations around Friday Harbor, WA. He also volunteered as a diving Santa at the Seattle Aquarium!



Robert is survived by three daughters; his partner, Avril Hogan; his ex-wife, Reiko Reavis; three  siblings, two grandchildren and a large extended family. Memorials will be held in Seattle, WA and Glendale, AZ at a later time, due to COVID-19. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Robert's name securely online to Reef Environmental Education Foundation or mail a check to REEF, PO Box 370246, Key Largo, FL 33037 with a note that the donation is in Robert's memory. (Source: ASU Foundation)