Arthur (Art) Maxwell was more than a brilliant ocean scientist: He was a generous, approachable leader who cared deeply about his colleagues and students.

“Art was a legend, a mentor, and a trusted friend,” said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Trustee Jamie Austin, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics where Maxwell spent the final decade of his long career.

In the 1960s and 70s, Maxwell served as WHOI Director of Research and Provost, working closely with WHOI President Paul Fye and helping to found the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. During his time at the Institution, Maxwell also pursued his own research in geophysics. Among other achievements, he was appointed President of the American Geophysical Union (1976-1978) and co-led an expedition of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, which provided critical evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics by demonstrating that the seafloor under the South Atlantic was spreading.

Maxwell began his career in one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. Navy, serving as quartermaster on the ammunition ship Lassen in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, Maxwell went to Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where he worked with pioneering oceanographers Walter Munk and Roger Revelle; the latter was so impressed with Maxwell that he took on the role of graduate advisor for the first time in order to mentor him. Maxwell then moved from California to Washington, DC, to work for the Office of Naval Research at a time when the Navy was a leading funder of research in ocean science.

“It was always very interesting around our household,” reminisced Maxwell’s daughter, Delle. “Scientists from around the world were always passing through. We met people like Jacques Piccard and Willard Bascom—leading lights in oceanography. As a child, I imagined theirs to be a most exotic and adventurous lifestyle. In retrospect, my father was always at the intersection of adventure, intellectual pursuit, and academic pioneering.”