Robert T. Paine

Robert Treat "Bob" Paine III (April 13, 1933 – June 13, 2016) was an American ecologist. He spent most of his career at the University of Washington. 
Paine created the keystone species idea to explain the relationship between "Pisaster ochraceus", a species of starfish, and "Mytilus californianus", a species of mussel. Paine's research, and the work of his students, has been hugely influential in the field of ecology.
Paine died from acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer, at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington on June 13, 2016, aged 83.