Dawson was born in
Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada and graduated from
Miami Beach Senior High School in Florida. Dawson served in the
Canadian Army during
World War II, losing an eye in the
Battle of Dieppe, France. He attended
University of Miami. He spent much of his career at the
University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in
Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he worked early as an administrator, then researcher, and museum curator. Over his long career, Dawson wrote 150 publications, the majority of which he was the sole author of. He recognized 52 Syngnathid genera and provided systematic reviews of most of them. His work culminated with his extensive review of all Indo-Pacific pipefishes. ==Taxon described by him==