in memoriumIn November 2022, the world lost a wonderful person who had a real passion and love of marine life, especially orca. Sam Lipman, founder of Orca Aware, had so much to offer the world and had worked tirelessly to protect the seas and its wildlife and to educate so many of us about the wonders of the marine world and the threats to it.
Sam was a whirlwind, a powerful force that was so much bigger than anyone would ever imagine. She was fun to be with both socially and professionally and her impassioned work for wildlife touched, enthused and inspired so many others, who couldn’t help but be affected by her vivacious exuberance. She embraced her world with love, care and dedication. We hope to continue with Orca Aware as a tribute to the wonderful, incredible force of Nature that was Sam. Life will never be quite the same without her though and for those of us who knew her well, she will live on in our hearts and memories. Rest in peace Sam. We can't believe we've lost you but your spirit lives on within our hearts. |
Tragically, Orca Aware's visionary and inspirational founder Sam Lipman died in November 2022, far too early but having made such an impact with her love for orca.
Sam's passion for orcas was first ignited when she watched the movie Free Willy. She worked with the UK's marine mammal rescue charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue from 2007 as a medic, course instructor and out-of-hours coordinator. She was formerly part of the head office staff and in 2018 was appointed Thames region coordinator, her first task assessing a lone beluga whale in the river after just one week in post. Sam also volunteered with the Orca Research Trust and Free Morgan Foundation, led by expert orca scientist Dr. Ingrid Visser. It was during Sam's time working with Dr. Visser in New Zealand that she had her first encounter with wild orcas. Sam subsequently observed orcas in the UK, Pacific Northwest, Iceland and Strait of Gibraltar. From 2009, Sam worked in the field of captive cetacean welfare. She led the literature search on orcas for the Non-Human Rights Project and presented at the Human Behaviour Change for Animal Welfare scientific conference, co-authoring a talk on human behaviour change for captive orcas with Dr. Visser. Sam held the positions of Communications Chair for the World Cetacean Alliance and Chair of the Dolphinaria-Free Europe coalition, serving on the Management Committee for many years after. Sam authored cetacean-related articles for the Huffington Post, One Green Planet, and a number of other platforms; you can find her articles here. Sam held two undergraduate degrees, one of which being a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology from Durham University. She completed a Postgraduate Diploma in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law from the University of Edinburgh, and was researching her dissertation to top up to MSc, focusing her thesis on cetacean welfare assessment protocols. |