Stephen and Marylyn Pauley
Creating a model of sustainability
For more than 60 years, the Pauley family’s generosity and vision has nurtured UH’s sustainability efforts in many ways. The most visible is funding the purchase of Coconut Island (Moku O Lo‘e), and the island’s several research laboratories that house the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB).
The Pauley facilities on Coconut Island have allowed HIMB faculty to train hundreds of undergraduates and graduate students in visionary, high-impact tropical marine research, as well as provide innovative educational experiences to thousands of K-12 students and community members. The Foundation generously supports future marine biologists through the Edwin W. Pauley Summer Program in Marine Biology. This is an annual research and graduate-level training program.
Among the many discoveries made through these programs and facilities, “The Pauley family’s generosity over the past 30 years have transformed the capacity to do marine sciences in Hawaii, enabled the training of thousands of individuals and facilitated scientific research that is topical and has a global impact.,” said HIMB director Dr. Ruth Gates.
In addition to their efforts on Coconut Island, the Pauley’s also support the Stephen and Marylyn Pauley Seminar in Sustainability. As the University’s most prestigious lecture series, the Pauley Seminar brings in individuals with extraordinary achievement and vision in their respective fields and who have demonstrated an ongoing passion to connect scholarship to application for the betterment of humankind.
Marylyn and Steven Pauley have spent their lives giving back:
Marylyn has been a trustee at Pomona College for 31 years. She also served on the Laguna Beach School Board from 1976-82.
Steven’s volunteer efforts include:
- Working to prevent wild salmon extinction on the Columbia – Snake Rivers and working toward the removal of the lower Snake River dams.
- Restoring the night sky in the Wood River Valley of Idaho (Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey) through the passage of dark sky ordinances (He is called ‘Dr Dark’ at times).
- Working to have Coconut Island become a model for sustainable living systems and a meeting center for scientists; a place where scientists and policy makers can discuss marine environmental issues related to coastal Hawaii and the Pacific Rim.
- Both Marylyn and Steven worked with surgical teams in Central and S. America to repair cleft lip and cleft palate defects in children.
Mahalo to the Pauleys for helping educate and inspire the next generation to create a sustainable world.