Kevin E. Kohler

Kevin Kohler was the middle of three sons born to Johanna Tiedeman Kohler and Rudolph Kohler on June 16, 1954 in Amityville, NY. His family moved to South Florida in 1959. Growing up in North Miami, he was an excellent student and avid fisherman, boater, and scuba diver. He received both his BA (Math and Physics) and MS (Physical Oceanography) from the University of Miami. He began his oceanography career working in ocean modeling at NOAA in Miami, eventually ending up at Nova Southeastern Oceanographic Institution in 1983, first as Research Assistant in charge of programming and general computer facilities to finally Director of Computing Services. Throughout his career, he was involved with numerous research projects from ocean modeling to coral-reef oriented research. He wrote various software products which are in use worldwide for technical plotting (PSPLOT), coral x-radiography analysis (CoralXDS), coral reef monitoring and assessment (CPCe), as well as habitat equivalency analysis (Visual_HEA).

He was a man of many interests. Accordion studies in high school and college led to a National Award in Accordion Ensemble and a performance at Carnegie Hall. Later, in addition to his day job, Kevin enjoyed many years of performing professionally on keyboards in many settings. He really loved all kinds of music, from classical (especially Mozart), to blues, cajun, rock and bossa nova. His favorite all-time band was the Beatles and a highlight of a trip to London included a guided walk along Beatles historical sights. He was a big Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins fan. Baseball was his favorite spectator sport as he enjoyed the strategies involved in the game. Scientific meetings and kaleidoscope conventions provided new opportunities to travel throughout the U.S. as well as to Bali, Japan, England and Curacao. Kaleidoscope collecting rekindled the wonder he first experienced as a child with toy kaleidoscopes as well as forming great friendships with the artists and other collectors. He loved to barbeque and was a fantastic and creative cook. Most recently, he returned to the sea through kayaking and fishing, and was looking forward to many more years when his life was cut too short on May 8. Although Kevin suffered a severe heart attack ten years ago, he never let it define his life or stop him from living normally.

Kevin is survived and sorely missed by Peggy, his partner of almost 30 years, his two brothers, Bob (Grace) and Lee (Grisel), his nieces, Kathryn (Ernie) and Nikki, Atali and Renate, his grandnephew, Mathew, his cousins George (Rnee) and Nancy, 2nd cousins Julie and David, Steve (Sheri) and Jeff (Lisa), and especially by Chloe and Josie.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the NSU Oceanographic Center Scholarship Fund, 8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL 33004. Please make check payable to NSU with memo Kevin Kohler Scholarship.http://videos.lifetributes.com/137674