Jim Findley was one of the founders of the Southwestern Symposium on Bat Research in the early 1970s. He has been a premier researcher of bat biology and produced many students with the same proclivity. Jim is the consummate naturalist with broad knowledge of animals, plants and geology. He has asked and still asks good, original scientific questions. Jim's curiosity, a most endearing quality, has lead him to research birds, reptiles, shrews, moose, bats, and coral reef fishes among others. He was trained at Case Western Reserve and the University of Kansas in the classical, comprehensive methods of the time. As a professor at the University of New Mexico, he published many papers in mammalian systematics. In the 1970s Jim's mind was actively engaged in more complex questions about bat ecology especially with the arrival of computers and quantitative, phenetic methods. At the time, Mike Rosenzweig, a theoretical ecologist, was a colleague and intellectual friend. The influence of ecological theory permanently bent Jim's mind toward a group of outstanding theoretical papers. His ecomorphological papers about bats stand out in my mind, but the culmination of that work in his 1993 book on bat communities should be considered a classic. A detailed bibliography of Jim's research appears in the Festschrift by Yates, Gannon, and Wilson, 1997. Life Among the Muses: Papers in Honor of James S. Findley. Special Publication, the Museum of Southwestern Biology, 3:1-290. This volume also contains papers by many Findley academic offspring. Jim's questions range from basic natural history to the more esoteric ecological and evolutionary. I know few people who have the working knowledge of as many creatures and plants as Jim Findley. It was a delight to be in the field with him. As a professor he delighted in holding conversations of some scientific import in the hall where students one by one would gather and contribute. Further discussions occurred over beer and at parties in the Findley Compound in Corrales. The compound is a delightful world of Findley children and grandchildren, dusty roads, a swimming pool, beautiful art, and a most hospitable household.

During his long and distinguished career, Roy was the co-founder and first director of the North American Symposium on Bat Research (NASBR). The first meeting of NASBR (originally called the Southwestern Symposium on Bat Research) was convened at the University of Arizona, Tucson in 1970, with a total of 28 bat biologists in attendance. Roy organized and directed 25 of the annual meetings of NASBR, and in 1995 was recognized for his yeoman's service at its 25th Annual Meeting, held in Boston (along with the 10th International Bat Research Conference). Roy has served on the Board of Directors of NASBR from 1999 until present, and in 2003, he was appointed as the first emeritus member of the board. He served as Publisher and Managing Editor of Bat Research News (BRN) from 1977 to 2004. When he assumed responsibility for BRN's publication and distribution in 1977, this newsletter had four annual issues averaging about 25 pages, with approximately150 subscribers. The recent volumes, still quarterly, consist of approximately 200 pages with over five hundred subscribers. He currently holds the title of Editor Emeritus of BRN. He is also a Life Member of the American Society of Mammalogists. Beyond his academic pursuits, Roy is involved with the Norwood Model Railroad Club. He is also a member of the Environmental Management Council of St. Lawrence County, NY. For the past few years he has served as Ombudsman for nursing home residents with the St. Lawrence County Office of the Aging. His favorite pursuits continue to include model railroading, civil war history, gardening, and "keeping track of the bat world."

Quoting from the By-Laws, "Lifetime membership is conferred by the NASBR in recognition of a long and distinguished career in bat research or education about bats." John has been a longtime member of the society, attending all but three meetings since his first attendance at the 2nd annual meeting (originally called the Southwestern Symposium on Bat Research), and has rendered unselfish service to NASBR. Over the past 35 years, John has chaired numerous technical sessions, judged hundreds of student papers, helped set up, rearrange, and tear down meeting room equipment, or whatever else was needed at annual NASBR meetings. As a professor at a small liberal arts institution, he has not had the opportunity to publish papers in the quantity that we see from someone at a research institution. Nevertheless, the work that he has done has been of high quality, and his work in education about bats speaks for itself. During his 40 years at Gettysburg College, John has taught thousands of undergraduate students, several of which he took on research experiences to either Papua New Guinea or South Africa. Under John's mentorship, these students have gone on to achieve professional positions in biology and related fields, and in virtually all endeavors in life. John and his wife Helen love teaching so much that they continue to teach at Gettysburg College long after the age when many professors retire. But not only has John decided to continue his teaching career, he has continued his research career with a new vigor. John's research on the roosting and foraging behaviors of Epomophorus in South Africa is supported by institutional grants, which also allow undergraduate students to accompany him for the research experience of their lives.