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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 & Oceanography Letters and mentor for the Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellowship (RCEF) (2019–2025), in our two-year tenures. The RCEF is a program driven by the Fellows themselves, who pursue diverse topics of their interest within scientific publishing—such as bias, inclusivity, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing and peer review—without a predetermined course content. Jim understood that, for the program to succeed, he needed to enable Fellows in their project research by providing information, resources, follow-up ideas, and direction. He kindly donated his time, whether replying to our many emails, engaging in our monthly RCEF catch-ups, facilitating meetings with the Wiley (publishing) team for L&O Letters, participating in Wiley Strategy Days, or connecting with us at ASLO conferences (Figs. 1 and 2). He introduced us to the inner workings of how Wiley manages the publication of L&O Letters and facilitated access to any and all data and resources we needed from Wiley, ASLO, and ASLO editors for our projects. He advocated on our behalf even when the requests were complex, and especially when we hit roadblocks. Jim consistently invited us to review manuscripts submitted to L&O Letters, solidifying our expertise as peer reviewers, and trained us on how to be Associate Editors. He also recently broadened the scope of the Fellowship by inviting the editors of the other ASLO journals to join the RCEF monthly meetings, so the Fellows would be exposed to the inner workings of different publications and could learn the varied approaches to serving as an editor. As the RCEF mentor, Jim shared his writing and publishing wisdom with us. He often talked about writing resources he deemed essential for scientists, such as “The Elements of Style” (Strunk and White 1999), later adding Scott's paper on concise scientific writing (Hotaling 2020) to this list. He offered critical guidance and suggestions for the projects we developed as part of our Fellowship. I [Frank] can barely count the number of times Jim discussed project ideas with me. He would always say, these are all just ideas; 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&O Letters Early Career Publication Honor (recently renamed the James E. Cloern Early Career Publication Honor), and let the RCEF take the reins on its development, implementation, and management. Since its establishment in 2020, the honor has reduced barriers to underfunded early-career professionals in aquatic sciences who wish to publish an Open Access article in L&O Letters (read all the published articles in this Virtual Issue). Jim even fostered our curiosity in science and guided our understanding of the history of aquatic sciences and how it led to the current accumulation of knowledge. Some of my [Erin] favorite memories of Jim were the conversations about foundational papers published in Limnology and Oceanography (see Table 1 in Cloern 2023). Jim encouraged me to delve into the freshwater sciences to supplement my oceanographic background, leading to further conversations and a conference workshop about what makes an impactful manuscript (2025 Aquatic Sciences Meeting; 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&O Letters and initial RCEF mentor), after he took over the role, Jim was always interested in, and encouraging of, my Fellowship activities. I started working on a manuscript about Scientific Significance Statements during my tenure but only completed the project a few years later. At that point I reached out to Jim, then the Letters EiC, to ask if it would fit the journal's scope. Not only did he encourage me to continue working on the paper, but he also arranged a call to provide advice on how to increase its impact and reach. With Jim's guidance, we prepared a publication (Falkenberg et al. 2024) which has been viewed ~1,700 times in the past two years. When I [Rosie] started my Fellowship, I lamented that ECRs are often thrown into the role of peer reviewer before receiving adequate training. Jim facilitated my outreach to the ASLO editors to get their perspectives for new reviewers; 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&O Letters during ASLO conferences, and beyond inviting past and current Fellows to attend, he also highlighted our scientific and editorial work to those present at the gathering (Fig. 4). He lifted us up in the eyes of our scientific peers, who were significantly more experienced than we were, and provided us with valuable networking opportunities. When I [Rita] expressed a desire to give back to ASLO and to serve the society and its members, he encouraged me to be bold and not fear rejection by self-nominating for Member-at-Large in the ASLO Board of Directors. Not only did he motivate me to achieve grand goals, he also championed my candidacy and later checked in to see how I was doing after being elected. Jim was the kind of person who took immense pleasure in bringing people together and celebrating their achievements, never once drawing attention to his own contributions. Last but not least, he invited us into his personal life and became a part of ours. When I [Bridget] started the RCEF, it was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim made a point to meet with me individually over zoom for over an hour just to get to know me as a person. He often spoke of his family, especially the grandchildren, and of his love for both the beach and the mountains. I [Kelsey] started my Fellowship as a new mother and we bonded over the children in our lives, as his grandchildren and my children are similar in age. “Send pics of the kids” was the routine sign-off in his emails. When we [Rita & Erin] lost our respective grandparents during our tenures (Peck and Franco-Santos 2025), he asked about our relationships with them and shared loving anecdotes of his relationship with his grandchildren—in doing so, he hurt with and for us. He helped both of us to remember beautiful things from our lives and brought down a little bit of that mourning pain. Unknowingly to ourselves at first, we just repeated this same process by writing this tribute as we mourn for our mentor. Jim, we miss you dearly. If you wish to provide a note of condolence to Jim's family, you may do so through the ASLO website. Notes will be collated and passed on to his family. Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. RMF-S is a Member-at-Large in the ASLO Board of Directors; LJF is the Editor of the L&O Bulletin; SH and BRD are Associate Editors for L&O Letters. All authors are past or current Raelyn Cole Editorial Fellows.