MASNA endows fund to establish Gary Meadows Memorial Reef at Coral Restoration Foundation

Harbor Aquatics, operated by Joy and Gary meadows, was the LiveAquaria and Reefer Madness of its day, selling live rock and live corals to reef keepers all across the country. Joy and Gary brought Harbor Aquatics to various reef shows like MACNA and IMAC way before it was cool, giving great support to in the early days of these shows which have now become somewhat of a big deal. Gary passed away twelve years ago but MASNA has not forgotten what Joy and Gary did for the collective marine aquarium community and they recently committed to remembering Gary’s legacy by establishing a fund to create the Gary Meadows Memorial Reef in Florida waters with the help of the Coral Restoration Foundation. Building a real coral reef in Gary’s memory is just about the most thoughtful way to commemorate the life of an industry pioneer, keep reading for the press release from MACNA.

Joy Meadows, Albert Thiel and Gary Meadows pose for a picture at a meeting of the Chicago Marine Aquarium Society

By now, everyone in the marine aquarium hobby should know that next year MACNA will be held in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. Some may recall that 12 years ago, MACNA was also held in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. What only a few remember though, was that at that particular show, Gary Meadows (husband to Joy Meadows and father to Jeremy Meadows) passed away unexpectedly. At the time, Gary and Joy Meadows operated Harbor Aquatics, a greenhouse based liverock, coral, and fish vendor. More recently, many would recognize Joy from her work with PFO Lighting and now Reef Brite. She has been a fixture in this hobby/industry for many, many years appearing at shows and events all across the US. With the return of MACNA to South Florida, MASNA is proud to announce the creation of MASNA’s Gary Meadows Memorial Reef in conjunction with the Coral Restoration Foundation in Gary’s memory. At the banquet for this year’s MACNA in Dallas-Fort Worth, Steven Pro President of MASNA presented a check for $2,500 to Ken Nedimyer of CRF. MASNA’s goal is to raise at least an additional $2,500 during the course of the year. Details will be provided shortly as soon as the mechanics of making a donation are worked out. MASNA is very pleased to be able to provide this in honor of Gary’s memory.

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.