Conducting transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary work takes skills and flexibility to be part of effective project teams. When teams work best, participants are able to meet their individual goals, but the collaborators’ collective work, versus individual accomplishments, ultimately define success. Thus, the saying that “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” is used to describe the altruism and perspectives that are needed for successful collaborations. Dr. Mazeika Patricio Sullivan’s contributions include and extend beyond this model and serve as an example to the freshwater community of truly integrative, inspired, and innovative work. In many careers and fields of study, success is defined almost solely by individual accomplishments. By approaching his interactions with collaborators with humility and passion and approaching his work with creativity and innovation, Mazeika demonstrated how to be an accomplished scientist and leader by putting others first. He should be remembered by what he did, and even more importantly, how he worked. He inspired people, he inspired action, and he inspired people to take action. He was a generous and effective collaborator with lawyers, ecologists, and hydrologists showing how the Sackett decision harms U.S. waters. He was also impassioned enough to take the hot seat in testimony to convey the implications of this decision to the U.S. congress. He was a tireless leader of SFS’s JEDI Task Force, through which he brought together and inspired many SFS members. The Task Force recommendations have resulted in important changes to Society functions and the formation of SFS’s Council of Underrepresented Voices. His scientific work literally crossed boundaries that included terrestrial and aquatic, microbial to vertebrate, and land use to river health. His life serves as a model in adopting Innovative, Integrative, Inspired, Inclusive, and Impassioned ways of advancing freshwater science, while empowering others.