Eli Whittaker Martin

Eli Whittaker Martin, an environmental scientist and ardent naturalist, passed away on July 3, 2026, at the age of 28, due to heatstroke while hiking in Guam.

 

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 11, 1997, Eli grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Belmont High School in 2016. In high school, Eli was a vital part of the community, playing on the ultimate frisbee team and lending his musical talents as a trombonist to the marching and jazz bands. He attended Harvard University, earning his degree in Evolutionary Biology in 2020.  At Harvard, he pursued his lifelong curiosity about the world, from natural selection to Virgil’s Aeneid to the sciences of the human past. His love for music and community continued as an enthusiastic member of the Harvard University Marching Band and the Harvard Pops Orchestra.

 

Eli was a life-long animal lover, considered remarkable, even as a toddler, for his deep fascination with sea creatures. Throughout his teens, he shared this joy with others by volunteering as a camp counselor, environmental steward, and visitor educator at the New England Aquarium. An avid scuba diver, Eli explored coral reefs around the world, from Australia and Indonesia to the waters of Guam. For many years, he kept a gorgeous coral reef aquarium.

 

In 2020, a university course in bird biology sparked a new obsession. Eli threw himself into birdwatching with characteristic vigor, ultimately recording nearly 1,000 unique bird species on eBird. He was famously known for his ability to convert friends, family, and co-workers into enthusiastic birdwatchers, forever changing how those around him looked at the sky.

 

After college, Eli began his career as a fisheries observer, accompanying commercial vessels leaving New England ports to gather critical data on marine catch. For the past four years, he lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, working as an environmental scientist for AECOM. He dedicated his professional daily life to environmental remediation and ecosystem protection, including the U.S. Navy biological survey project he was supporting at the time of his death. 

 

Eli had a broad and ever-expanding set of passionate interests. In addition to birding and diving, he loved history and listened to thousands of hours of history podcasts; he had an inexhaustible knowledge of the Game of Thrones universe; he discovered the NFL late but quickly became a fantasy football champion. He loved to play online video games with his high school friends, watch Japanese anime with his college roommates, and travel the world with friends and family, or host them on their visits to Hawaii.

 

Eli was defined by his profound kindness, unshakeable loyalty, positive outlook, and steady, reliable nature. He was the person you could count on in any situation to be a solid and positive presence. He was a good friend, a good brother, and a good son. We will think of him whenever we look out at the ocean or hear birds singing.

 

Eli is survived by his parents, Sally and Terry Martin, and his sister, Evelyn Martin, all of Belmont, MA; his grandmother, Sharry Teague, and her husband, Sam Simpson, of Ashland, OR; his grandfather, Fred Murschall, and his wife, Shirley Murschall, of Bend, OR; as well as many loving aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and colleagues.