Page 49: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2005)

Coonamessett Inn, Falmouth,

Mass: Over 200 marine technology and oceanographic luminaries gath- ered to pay tribute to an industry great. Samuel Otis Raymond, 76, was honored by his seven-year

Chairman, Steve Fantone. Fantone met Sam at four A.M. in an airport 19 years ago, and Sam was the only one alert enough to hold a conversa- tion - "that was some time ago and it's been fun all the way".

Sam graduated from MIT in 1950 with a degree in mechanical engineer- ing. He became associated with Doc

Edgerton while working on underwa- ter products at EG&G. He started

Benthos in his barn in Falmouth in 1962. Sam thanked all in attendance and honored many past employees and colleagues. With the expertise and energy of 750 employees (over the years) Benthos has grown from a barn-sized enterprise to a multi- mil- lion dollar publicly-traded corpora- tion that is traded on the NASDAQ.

Sam has four children, represented at the banquet by daughter Nixie. She ensured that no one walked away with any illusions about what grow- ing up with Sam as a dad was like, saying "most children are looked after by their parents, but it was much dif- ferent in our family. At a very early age we, as Sam's kids, had to really watch out for him. Sam bungee- jumped, sky-dived, scuba-dived, and did all sorts of 'out there' things. He taught us to explore ideas, solve prob- lems and pursue our dreams."

WHOI Director Bob Gagosian lauded Sam for his impeccable char- acter, values and work ethic. Klein

Sonar Systems founder Marty Klein introduced himself as an "old retired engineer" who worked with Doc

Edgerton and Sam at MIT. Marty thanked Sam for his friendship and unwavering mentoring during the startup of both of their companies.

Ron Marsiglio, the current presi- dent of Benthos, presented Sam with a pair of electronic image stabilized binoculars "with which to view the world." Marsiglio stated that before he met Sam, he had "never met any- one whose mind was so un-grounded in this time and space" and that "Sam will always be the founder of

Benthos...no one can take that away from him."

Another buddy, Jack Crossen of

National Marine Fisheries Service, said that when Sam told him the name of his new company, he said that "the benthos aurous is a bottom dwelling fish that scavenges the sea floor for food, which tells you some- thing about how frugal Sam is."

Jack Morris, the first official employee of the Barn Crew, intoned that "no matter how tall you are, you always look up to Sam."

I was honored to be invited to attend and I wish Sam and his lovely wife happy trails in their around-the- world adventure. — Maggie Merrill

Cohan Joins Schilling

Robotics

Steve Cohan has joined Schilling

Robotics, LLC as director of control systems engineering. Using his experi- ence in control systems for a wide variety of products (from robotic sur- gical instruments to aerial drones to

ROVs), he will focus on enhancing product performance features and robustness. His work will apply to

Schilling Robotics ROVs and to the

Remote Systems Engine, a family of software and hardware modules that can be used to control almost any type of remotely operated subsea sys- tem. This is Cohan's second employ- ment at Schilling Robotics. He previ- ously worked for the company for four years, first as a control systems engineer and later as chief engineer for software and controls. In the interim he has gained broad experi- ence in a wide range of complex elec- tro-mechanical control systems. "Steve brings to our company almost two decades of experience in software design for remotely con- trolled devices, and he also has expe- www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 49 people & companies

Benthos Founder Retires (L to R) Old buddies Marty Klein and

Sam Raymond remember the "good ol days" when they started their companies.Both have since sold their companies and have retired.

MTR#2 (49-64).qxd 8/30/2005 7:10 PM Page 49