James E. Cloern (1948–2025): Remembering a Beloved Mentor of Early Career Professionals in Scientific Publishing

It is compelling evidence that the world has lost a scientific, gentle giant when the passing of a researcher—Dr. James E. Cloern, on November 3, 2025—is mourned not only by his peers (Deemer et al. 2026; Luoma et al. In press), but also by members of the public (Okamoto 2025). Jim's influence extended far beyond his field as he led with a kind and open heart, creating a safe space where the most productive conversations could be had. Below we, a group of Jim's mentees, complement existing tributes with our own recollections of his advice and mentoring style, as well as fond memories of a mentor who left his mark on our careers and lives. We can all probably identify the moment when we became fascinated with the aquatic world. Jim's passion for aquatic sciences began during his undergraduate years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1966–1970), when he took a limnology course. It would be another half a century before we crossed paths with Jim, the then Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) journal Limnology the focus of your project depends entirely on you. Jim was passionate about how emerging tools such as AI are shaping scientific publishing, especially in aquatic sciences. Under his guidance, I focused my ongoing project (a survey) on AI use in scientific writing and publishing. It is quite heartbreaking that he is no longer with us to see the results of the work and his mentoring. When we finished our projects, Jim often reviewed our publication drafts (compiled in this Virtual Issue) and effectively taught us how to write cogently. “Make every word count” he would say to me Rita as we discussed an article I was preparing on Open Access publishing in aquatic sciences (Franco-Santos 2024); to Jim, conciseness was one of the key secrets to successful scientific writing. Many of Jim's contributions to our writing are invisible, as he offered extensive guidance without seeking authorship. His mentorship of us went further still. Through his actions, he built up our confidence in ourselves. When I Frank interviewed for the RCEF as a recent PhD graduate from Africa, Jim told me, “scientific writing is difficult for everyone, even for me as a professor.” Being on a virtual call with all four ASLO journal EiCs was intimidating when I began my tenure in 2024, shortly after landing a position in the West, and Jim's patience and excellent mentorship were instrumental in building the confidence to navigate through that. I Jessie first met Jim as a brand-new PhD student at one of my first-ever conferences, when I presented water quality research directly related to his past work on turbidity as a control on phytoplankton production (Cloern 1987). I felt honored that such a legend would stop and ask questions about my poster, and I never forgot his encouragement. That encounter gave me confidence in my own research, and I jumped at the chance to work with him as a Fellow several years later. Jim's effort to acknowledge the contributions of Fellows, and to go out of his way to ensure our ideas were heard by others, also helped me Kelsey to see myself as a peer and recognize my own contributions. Like all great mentors, he also saw things in me that I didn't at the time. He always gave us the space to be ourselves and to try, and he never demanded anything in return. Unlike some other mentorship experiences, I Rosie never felt the need to prove myself to Jim; his kindness and respect felt sincere and unwavering, linked to us as human beings rather than to our academic achievements. Even when I Kelsey felt I was going to disappoint him, Jim always listened without judgment and found the right thing to say to help me keep a positive perspective. Jim also frequently sought our feedback on journal submissions, procedures, and protocols, effectively teaching us about scientific publishing outside of the classic hierarchical academic style. His earnest interest in our opinions gave us the sense that he trusted us; he treated us as peers, recognizing the importance of our unique early career perspective. This led to conversations that often were the seeds of our projects as Fellows. He also empowered us to be innovators and to bring that innovation to create real impact for early career researchers (ECRs) and the broader academic community. For instance, in 2019 at an annual Strategy Day with ASLO editors and members of the Wiley publishing team, Jim made sure that we Scott and Kelsey had a seat at the table for all of the activities and discussions. The topic turned to how the journals can better support ECRs. Afterward, we revisited this topic with Jim, who shared that he had access to fee waivers that could be used to cover publication charges. Maybe we could do something with those? From there, we quickly came up with the basic framework for what would grow into the biennial program L Fig. 3). I Frank will continue to apply the insights he shared during this event, which was the last in-person engagement I had with him. Jim was also an excellent listener and was particularly curious to engage with us on writing and publishing issues, especially when our views differed from his. These conversations often led to generational comparisons on how the group practiced science—Jim was an avid reader of full issues, of which he loved flipping (physical) pages, whereas the Fellows more commonly read specific articles they searched for online without any “loyalty” to specific journals. Always eager to help, Jim leveraged opportunities to educate the aquatic science community on scientific writing and publishing through various ASLO conference workshops and online webinars over the years—the last of which drew over 6000 viewers (watch the recording on the ASLO YouTube platform). He compiled a lot of solid advice for these workshops, but his humility was perhaps his most effective attribute. He reminded us that writing is hard, dealing with rejection is a part of our careers as scientists, and we are not alone in navigating the process (see his Ruth Patrick Award acceptance speech). Jim also encouraged us to develop relevant resources for our early-career peers. While I Laura completed my Fellowship under the guidance of Pat Soranno (the founding Editor of L he then encouraged me to organize a webinar and subsequently publish an editorial, drawing on insights from the ASLO editors, in order to disseminate a new peer review training resource (Gradoville and Deemer 2022). This project also led us Bridget and Rosie to start a sign-up list for ECRs wishing to be invited to peer review for ASLO journals. His impact went beyond the Fellowship. As he got to know us, he championed us. Jim took great pleasure in organizing a small reception for the Associate Editors of L LJF is the Editor of the L SH and BRD are Associate Editors for L&O Letters. All authors are past or current Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellows.