The President of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), Matthew J. Parker, passed away earlier this week. News of his passing was made public in published remarks from the AMS today.

Parker, 53, worked at Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina since 1989, most recently as Senior Fellow Meteorologist in the Atmospheric Technologies Group. He was elected as AMS President-elect in November 2015, and assumed the role of AMS President during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Seattle this past January. Parker was slated to oversee the Annual Meeting in January 2018 in Austin.

“This is an enormous loss not just for the AMS family but for the entire scientific community,” said Keith Seitter, AMS Executive Director. “Matt was deeply admired for his commitment to the AMS community. He was a leader and a friend, and we will all miss him tremendously.”

According to the AMS Constitution, the current President-elect, Dr. Roger Wakimoto, assumes the authorities and responsibilities of president for the remainder of Parker’s term. AMS will provide updates as we have them.

All meteorologists that work for the Weatherboy brand and its parent company are AMS members, as are most professional meteorologists in the private and public sectors. The Weatherboy family extends its deepest condolences to Parker’s family.