This selection of institutions allowed Herald to be schooled in zoology by Loye Holmes Miller and Joseph Grinnell, while his training as an ichthyologist was supervised by George S. Myers.
He joined the United States Army during the Second World War and rose to the rank of captain in the Sanitary Corps.
In addition, he conceived of a doughnut-shaped exhibit which would allow for the display of fast swimming pelagic species, for which he also secured major funding.
[1] This was a half-hour weekly show, produced by the California Academy of Sciences, which was originally broadcast locally in the San Francisco Bay area but which was eventually shown all over the world.
Herald's interest in public education about science led him to propose a "San Francisco Bay floating laboratory" on a retired, refurbished PT boat, which was designed to allow High School pupils to observe marine biologists at work.
[1] Herald was a Curator of the Department of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, as well as a Trustee of the George Vanderbilt Foundation, and in these roles he was able to secure funding to support the transfer of the Vanderbilt Foundation's collection of fishes from Stanford University to the academy, which also allowed for extensive renovations of the Department of Ichthyology.
[1] His passion for pipefishes was recognised when the monotypic genus Heraldia[3] and the species Cosmocampus heraldi were named in his honour.