Mallory Pearce spent his childhood in upstate New York, lived on Tybee Island, near Savannah, during his high school years, studied under Eugene Odum at the University of Georgia, and got his B. S. in Ecology at the University of Chicago.

An interest in art led him to UCLA and a M.A. in filmmaking with a specialty in animation. For 35 years in Los Angeles, he helped create animated educational films on science and medicine.

In 1990, he returned to Tybee, where he resided and used as a base for the study of ecosystems up and down the coast.

Mallory passed peacefully in July 2024.