Biologist captured
Ka Iwi on film

Albert Benedict had retired as a professor when his childhood interest in photography was rekindled.

That artistic passion of his recent years was captured in "Ka Iwi -- Survival of a Coast," a glossy book of his photographic art with essays by friends about the last undeveloped stretch of shoreline on Oahu, published in 2000.

Benedict died March 25 at his home. He was 83.

He was retired from the University of Hawaii as a microbiology professor and was formerly chairman of the microbiology department. He taught and did research in the field of immunology. He founded a UH research facility that produces antibodies still in commercial use.

After retirement and during a long decade of coping with cancer, he began hiking along the 4.5 miles of coastline from Koko Head to Makapuu, watching for native plants. The beauty of the East Oahu shore stimulated his return to photography.

"I'd go down there once or twice a week, and the images were just glorious," Benedict said in a December 2000 interview. "The idea of preservation, admittedly I didn't think of it in those terms. Then I realized the beauty of this place. I realized the need to save this coastline ... a place for all of us to go to."

His work has been shown in one-man shows and invitational exhibits.

In recent years, Benedict had been researching his Hungarian family tree, said friend Sue Cowing. He located and reunited relatives in Europe, North America and Israel who had not known of each other's existence. Cowing said he compiled the genealogy into a booklet for the family.

Benedict was born in Pasadena, Calif. He graduated from University of California at Berkeley and earned a doctorate in microbiology. He taught at universities in Kansas and Texas before moving to Hawaii in 1963 with wife Marion.

He is survived by daughters Donna Wilson and Melinda Yamaga, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Private services were held. The family suggests that memorial donations be made to Hawaii Public Radio or the University of Hawaii Foundation.

An exhibit of his recent and retrospective photographs, "Seeing It Through," will open in May at Kapiolani Community College.