James M. Broadus

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow the death of James Matthew Broadus III, September 28, 1994 at the age of 47.  Jim drowned in Hawaii, where he was attending a conference.

A Senior Scientist and Director of the Institution’s Marine Policy Center, Jim was internationally known for his work on the economics of marine minerals and seabed mining.  He was involved in numerous national and international marine policy programs and activities, in recent years taking a leading role in the Institution’s relationship with the former Soviet Union and the emerging role of national environmental security in the wake of a changing world political climate.  Jim was also deeply involved in the studies of the marine technology industry and more recently on the economics of climate change.

Jim joined the Institution staff in 1981 as a Marine Policy and Ocean Management Fellow and was appointed Policy Associate in 1982.  In July 1984 he became the first Social Scientist appointed to the resident scientific staff.  He was named Director of the Marine Policy Center in February 1986, and in 1993 was named a Senior Scientist.  Born in Mobile, Alabama, Jim attended high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and was a graduate of Oberlin College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1969.  He attended graduate school at Yale University, where he earned a master of arts degree in 1972, a master of philosophy degree in 1974, and a doctoral degree in economics in 1976.  Prior to joining the WHOI staff in 1981, he served as an economist at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division in Washington, DC, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.  He received the U.S. Department of Justice Outstanding Performance Rating and its Special Achievement Award in 1978.

A member of many professional organizations, Jim served as an advisor to the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment and Bureau of Mines of the U.S Department of the Interior.  He was Chairman of the Marine Coastal Ecosystems Directorate of the U.S. Man and Biosphere Program, and a member of the Marine Board of the National Research Council.  He also served as a member of the Advisory Committee for U.S.-Japan Bilateral Cooperation on Natural Resources; North American Steering Committee, Global Biodiversity Conservation Strategy of the Keystone Center and World Resources Institute; Technical Advisors Group of the Committee for Coordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral resources in Asian Offshore Areas; and the panel on the Law of Ocean Uses of the Council on Ocean Law.  His professional memberships included the American Economic Association, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Marine Technology Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Jim also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Coastal Research, on the editorial board of the Journal of Aquatic Conservation, and as an editorial advisor to the Institution’s magazine Oceanus.  He was a member of the Regional Working Group on “Implications of Climate Change” of the United Nations Environment Programme; the U.N. Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution; the Committee on National Strategies of the Board of Ocean Science and Policy, National Research Council; and the Advisory Panel on Technologies for Exploring and Developing the Exclusive Economic Zone of the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment.

Jim is survived by his wife, Victoria, and three children, Matthew Lee, Victoria Rose and Joseph Gordon, all of Falmouth, MA.