Samuel Randolph Haley: July 12, 1940-July 10, 2026

Samuel Randolph (Randy) Haley completed mortality on July 10, 2026, at the age of 85. Born July 12, 1940, in Fort Worth, Texas, to Oscar Raymond Haley and Pauline Olivia Thompson. Residing at Lake Worth in Tarrant Co., he attended Lake Worth Elementary and Middle Schools and graduated from North Side High School in Fort Worth in 1958. He was active in Explorer Scouting, earning the Silver Explorer Award and Order of the Arrow (Longhorn Council). Later, in Hawai’i, he received the Wood Badge (Aloha Council).

Randy attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1958 to 1967 (before it became “weird”), receiving BA, MA, and PhD Degrees in Zoology. During that time, he also completed summer studies at the Bermuda Biological Station and the Friday Harbor Marine Laboratory in Washington State. He conducted his PhD research at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas on Mustang Island in 1966. There on the beach he met the love of his life, Niki Leigh Roberts, whom he courted and married. After his graduation from the University in 1967, they relocated to Honolulu, Hawai’i, where he accepted a position in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. There he taught Developmental Biology, Vertebrate Embryology, and Histology from 1967 to 2001, receiving two university and one national teaching excellence awards. Rejecting “Political Correctness,” Randy loved nature’s reality and infinite variety. Focusing on basic scientific principles, he encouraged students to understand rather than try to memorize. Most of his students sought pre-professional careers in health sciences.

In Hawai’i, Randy and Niki learned to sail. They and their three sons lived on progressively larger sailboats for six years, sailing inter-island during vacations. Those voyages were always fun and exciting, but sometimes too exciting when the Pacific Ocean was not as pacific.

They became active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1970, progressively serving in various church service and leadership callings. Their family was Sealed in the Laie Hawai’i Temple, and they remained lifelong faithful members.

Randy retired from the University of Hawai’i as Professor and Chair of Zoology in 2001, after which he and Niki relocated to Port Aransas, Texas. For the next 18 years they cared for their parents until their passing. Evacuations during hurricane season on the Gulf Coast, and subsequent repairs, led them to acquire a second home in Hunt, in the Texas Hill Country, where they finally relocated in 2019.

Randy was preceded in death by his sister, Sandra Raye Quinn and his parents, Oscar Raymond, and Pauline Olivia (Thompson) Haley (all of Fort Worth, TX), and his son, Morgan (Los Angeles, CA). He is survived by his wife (and still the love of his life), Niki Leigh (Roberts) Haley; sons Sean (North Carolina), and Joshua (Utah); grandchildren Sarah, Karmen, Zack, Seth, and Zoe; and great-granddaughter, Leia.

A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

Donations may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

“Character is destiny.” (Heraclitus) Randy reminds his sons of the admonitions of Helaman 5:12, in The Book of Mormon, and John in 3rd John 1:4 in The Holy Bible. To his sons he gave his greatest gift…he loved and honored their mother. “In this Life, and the Next,” she and they always were and are his treasure. Until we are reunited, keep to the “Covenant Path.”

Condolences may be shared at www.grimesfuneralchapels.com.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Grimes Funeral Chapels of Kerrville.