https://apnews.com/41cd3f9a44e24b538f1ace9ad29b04dd

HONOLULU (AP) — Pioneering coral reef scientist Ruth Gates, who dedicated much of her career to saving the world's fragile and deteriorating underwater reef ecosystems, has died. She was 56.

The University of Hawaii said Tuesday the researcher died in Honolulu on Thursday. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in May. Gates was the director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the university.