Edgar Richard Gollott, a founding member of the Southern Shrimp Alliance and a pillar of the seafood industry in the U.S. Gulf South for more than 60 years, died 9 May after a long battle with cancer.
Gollott, 77, who was vice president of Golden Gulf Coast Packing Company in Biloxi, Mississippi, and president of Gollott’s Oil Dock & Ice House, was a longtime commissioner on the Mississippi Advisory Commission on Marine Resources (MACMR) and served on the board of directors for the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA).
He passed away peacefully in his Biloxi home surrounded by family and friends, ASPA wrote on its website. He is survived by his wife, Shirley Tookie, sons Richie and Anthony, and his daughter, Shelly.
“Commissioner Gollott was a leader in the shrimp industry and his vast knowledge helped Mississippi seafood earn worldwide recognition for its quality,” Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Executive Director Joe Spraggins said. “He will be greatly missed and his contributions to the commission and our agency will leave a lasting impression on all of us.”
Gollott represented commercial seafood processors on the MACMR until mid-March 2021.
“In my almost 50-year friendship with Richard Gollott, he was never anything less than a dedicated fighter for a healthy and viable seafood industry that included everyone from deckhands to consumers,” ASPA Executive Director Dr. C. David Veal said.
In 2018, ASPA honored Gollott with a Distinguished Service Award in recognition of “a lifetime of commitment, dedication and service to the seafood industry.”
Photo courtesy of the American Shrimp Processors Association
