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Richard A. Morin, a retired diver and UB researcher, died March 4 in Millard Fillmore Hospital. He was 90.
Born in East Wakefield, N. H., Morin was a ship salvage diver during World War II, and after the war served with a Navy underwater demolition team that was responsible for training the original Mercury 7 astronauts in 1957.
His varied assignments during his more-than-20-year career as a Navy diver included helping salvage the French luxury liner Normandie and making training films for the Office of Naval Research that were directed by actor Gene Kelly. Film footage of his underwater work with the Navy Experimental Diving Unit is still regularly seen on the History Channel.
Morin joined UB7rsquo;s physiology department in 1957, even though he only had a high school diploma. However, his extensive deep-sea diving background and technical inventiveness helped UB become a leader in hyperbaric research. In 1982, he received the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Service.
Morin held two U.S. patents considered central in the development of environmental physiology laboratories. He also designed equipment and helped train astronauts for space shuttle missions prior to his retirement from active research. He retired as director of facilities for the Environment Physiology Lab in 1992.
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