The industry lost a mentor, colleague and friend when John H. Munster died on October 25, 2017. Everyone who knew him recognized his laugh. John did not start his working life in the industry; instead, he worked as an undertaker and then as a fingerprint analyst for the FBI. He was very proud to say he worked under J. Edgar Hoover. John was employed at Litton Bionetics in the 1960s, working with primates. According to one long-time friend and coworker at the time, “By 1968, John was accomplished in the husbandry of non-human primates. He was overseeing part of the breeding colony, quarantine and conditioning of raw imports, assigning treatments to sick monkeys and doing minor surgery. John was one of the ring leaders who made it fun to work at Litton. He wasn’t far from the center of most practical jokes but, at the same time, was serious about the welfare of his monkeys.”
From 1970 to 1972, he worked at Magee Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. In the words of his manager at the time, “We stole him away to beef up our primate program.” John did a stint at Fort Detrick as a facility manager. His next project was housing monkeys at Monmouth airport for what was then Hazleton before going south to establish the Alice, Texas primate facility. Whenever a monkey would get loose, and people would report it, John would tell the authorities all of his were accounted for, and it had to have come from the Great Adventure Safari park in Jackson Township. He eventually moved to the sales side of the industry, first as an independent rep and then for Hazelton/Covance, Ancare and Thoren. He retired in 2013.
John was a founding member of several AALAS branches and a fixture at many local meetings. He served as Joint Symposium Chair and often participated in DVB AALAS Technician Day, providing instruction in primate handling and techniques. He was a founding member of the Allied Trade Association and a past president. In 2007, he was presented with the Floyd Poling Award, and in 2012, received the Robert O. Boyington Lifetime
Achievement Award.
John is survived by his wife, Katherine, a brother, Andrew, three children, Jeffrey, Dennine and Christina, eight grandchildren, and his beloved Standard Poodle, Lily. He touched many lives and left many good friends.
