The Whale Museum remembers Albert Shepard, an outstanding colleague, visionary curator, and beloved friend. Albert passed away in September at the age of 67.
Albert was a man of creativity and curiosity, and he used those skills to shape The Whale Museum into what it is today. He began his work with The Whale Museum back in 1982 as an undergraduate intern from The Evergreen State College. After he graduated, Albert moved to the islands, living on Orcas and San Juan working as a kayak guide and as a contracting artist, exhibit designer, and skeleton articulator for The Whale Museum and other regional institutions.
As part of one of his later internships, Albert took on producing comprehensive ID sketches of the dorsal fins and saddle patches of all the Southern Resident orcas, including the subtle individual scratches and body marks that were often missing from photographs. This resulted in The Whale Museum’s publication of an ID guide featuring these sketches with his colleague Peter Sugarman. These identification drawings were then updated and included as the identification appendices in the 1988 publication of Marine Mammals of Greater Puget Sound, with Rich Osborne, John Calambokidis and Eleanor Dorsey; where Albert also added dorsal drawings for a Minke Whale catalog.
In 1995, Albert took over as The Whale Museum’s Curator, a position he would hold until 2005. When once asked about his work as a curator, Albert said, “I like the title of my position – Curator. I’ve been told it means to cure or preserve; I like to also think the title might also relate to curiosity. Maybe my job is to preserve curiosity.” His efforts breathed new life into the Exhibit Hall, and the results of his tireless work are still enjoyed by people every year.
“His creativity, enthusiasm and ability to immediately implement his ideas through exhibit construction and original art was essential to the Museum’s story telling for decades,” said Rich Osborne, former board president of The Whale Museum and long-time colleague and friend of Albert’s.
Albert’s work is visible in every facet of The Whale Museum. He articulated numerous whale skeletons on both floors of the museum, and as recently as 2024 worked with current museum employees to create a new display of a Steller sea lion.
His talents extended beyond the skeletal–Albert was also behind the designs of numerous logos and a number of the beautiful, handcrafted signs that are still displayed to this day, including the minke whale and orca Yin/Yang sculpture on the front of the Museum. He shaped the modern Whale Museum, and elements of his work will live on to be enjoyed by thousands of visitors every year.
Albert’s passion and dedication will live on at The Whale Museum. He leaves behind a legacy of curiosity and ingenuity, and the marine science community will miss him dearly.
