April 2o, 2026 — A boy from the mountains of Tennessee, inspired by a great American novella, became one of the best-known fisheries scientists on the Gulf of Mexico.
James S. “Jim” Franks of Ocean Springs was smart enough to know that he could learn from folks in South Mississippi who plied Gulf waters daily, said his close friend Reed Hendon. Franks became a mentor to Hendon at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, where both worked for decades.
“He was probably the most dedicated and driven scientist that I ever met,” said Hendon, former GCLR director. “Science and fisheries and his job, that was his life.”
Franks retired as a senior fisheries scientist in 2024 from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs. Although he never smoked, Franks died of pulmonary fibrosis on Wednesday at age 83.
“For many, Jim’s name is synonymous with GCRL,” Kelly Darnell, the lab’s director, said in one of many statements widely shared after Franks’ death. “He first came to the lab as a student in the summer of 1963 and went on to become the lab’s longest-serving employee . . .