About the Slocum-Lunz Foundation
Who We Are
The Slocum-Lunz Foundation is a charitable, non-profit corporation whose purpose is the advancement of scientific knowledge and education through the support of students of marine biology and related natural sciences. It awards small research grants to students enrolled in South Carolina institutes of higher education.
Since 1990, the Foundation has helped to support more than 200 students with research grants that, together, total over $198,000. There have been more than 200 scientific publications acknowledging the support of the Slocum-Lunz Foundation and they have been cited over 5,900 times by other scientists around the world.
History
The Slocum-Lunz Foundation evolved from the foresight of H. Jermain Slocum, who donated land and operating funds for the development of the Bears Bluff Marine Laboratory, located on Wadmalaw Island in Charleston County, South Carolina.
The laboratory was devoted to the education, study and research of marine resources. It was opened in 1946 under the directorship of Dr. G. Robert Lunz, a renowned expert in marine ecology, fisheries biology, and aquaculture.
When the laboratory was consolidated with the present-day South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), profits from the sale of the property were placed in an endowment.
Today, that endowment perpetuates the Slocum-Lunz legacy by funding marine-related student research.
Dr. Robert Lunz, harvesting red drum from culture ponds at Bears Bluff during the 1960s