David J Egan

Male 1950 - 2022  (72 years)


 

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Obituary David Egan 1950

Dave Egan - At daybreak I am the sole owner of all the acres I can walk over. It is not only the boundaries that disappear, but also the thought of being bounded - Aldo Leopold His father expected he would become a lawyer; however, Dave Egan had a very different kind of life in mind. In the end he followed his heart and his natural curiosity. His reward was a lifetime of physical adventure, important work and many close friends and family. To him, it was all akin to a king’s ransom. When Dave was about 6 years old, the Egan family moved to a house one door from the end of 18th Street in Kaukauna. Just down the hill, was a woods and prairie owned by Polly Lerher, a local farmer. Through it flowed Konkapot Creek and it was traversed by a rail track that serviced the paper mill. In those formative years we tirelessly hiked, explored, sledded and loved that ground. It stirred in Dave a lifelong passion for the wild places. For him, especially, it remained a touchstone the rest of his life. Dave would devote his life to the study and practice of Ecological Restoration. There, as a writer and editor he gained the respect and admiration of his colleagues for his tireless passion and unique insights. Especially those that expanded the recognition and understanding of human dynamics to the success of ecological restoration. After high school, Dave attended Ripon College. He was always an exceptional student, but also a restless soul. After little more than a year he left there to tramp the country. For well more than a year, he rode buses, hitchhiked, worked odd jobs. On returning to Wisconsin, he married and became a father to his son Jeffers. He drove a milk truck and tried his hand at woodworking. In 1983, Dave and his family moved to Madison where he entered the University of Wisconsin’s School of Landscape Architecture at Madison. There he began his studies in Ecological Restoration. In 1988 he completed his master’s degree. Once Dave settled on his calling, he advanced quickly. By 1984 Dave was working with Bill Jordan as Assistant Editor and writer of the Restoration & Management Notes/Ecological Restoration Journal at the UW Arboretum/UW Press. When Bill stepped down, Dave became editor of the journal and retained that position until 2006. That year he took a similar job at the Ecological Restoration Institute, at the University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff, Ariz., where he remained until 2022. Dave was a prolific writer and editor. At the Ecological Restoration Institute there are 26 publications attributed to him, all or in part. At the University of Wisconsin Dave, along with is duties at the journal, he co-edited several important books that still remain influential in the field of Ecological Restoration. Dave served as co-editor with UW Botanist and Professor Evelyn Howell on “The Historical Ecology Handbook: A Restorationist’s Guide to Reference Ecosystems.” (2005). Dave also co-edited with Evan E. Hjerpe “Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration.” (2011). In a tribute to Dave’s work Professor Don Falk, School of Natural Resources and the Environment at NAU wrote: “Dave Egan was a true pioneer in the field of ecological restoration ... Dave’s work was also always mindful, in some ways uniquely so, of the social and cultural context in which restoration is carried out.” Dave was a prodigious reader all his life and a dedicated photographer. He loved to make photographic records of his many excursions. For several years he lived in Kanab, Utah. There he went on many long hikes with the back country ranger into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. He shot a spectacular collection of photographs of that beautiful and rugged country that includes many ancient Native American rock paintings, petroglyphs and pictographs. Dave lived the last six and a half years of his life in a 500 sq. ft. cabin on a small mountain outside Silver City, New Mexico at Lake Roberts and on the edge of the Gila National Forest. It was a place he loved and knew thoroughly. In all these places Dave made many friends and he treasured all of them dearly. Dave maintained an interest in the Packers, basketball and tennis. He joyed games of cribbage, sheepshead and backgammon, both with friends, family and their children. His interests varied from the great Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt to Bullwinkle the Moose and everything in between. Dave was a joiner, a participator, and famously generous with his time. He served on the city council in Middleton, Wis. And the Lake Roberts Water Users Association. He volunteered at the Redfeather Development Group in Flagstaff and at the Escalante National Monument. He religiously attended ecstatic dances in Silver City. Dave always made himself available for friends in need of a hand moving or someone to stay with their kids for an afternoon. When his sisters were in need of assistance caring for our aging parents, he made three, weeks long trips, back to Kaukauna to relieve them. He shunned formality. Possessed a quiet but obvious intelligence. Cared nothing for money or wealth of that sort. He was always interesting, optimistic and game for a good adventure. For Dave there was always another canyon to hike ... another river to run. He could also be impatient and sometimes irritable but didn’t hold grudges and wasn’t petty in any important way. He was natural leader and the guy who insisted on being at the wheel of the car or boat. He was a remarkable and caring father, brother, uncle, friend and companion. But now he is unbound. He will be deeply missed. Somewhere in cartoon land Bullwinkle the Moose sheds a tear for his most ardent fan. David John Egan died, in the presence of family members, Dec. 20, 2022, at the Surgical Trauma Center, University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. He succumbed to complications from a series of surgeries for colon cancer. He was 72 years old.
He was born May 8, 1950, the first of four children, to Cleon and Betty Egan of Kaukauna. He attended St. Mary School and graduated from Kaukauna High School Class of 1968. At Kaukauna High he was a top student, played on the basketball and tennis teams and on a state championship volleyball squad.
Dave was preceded in death by his parents and paternal grandparents: (David, Marie Egan) and maternal grandmother: (Anne Marvin).
He is survived by his son: Jeffers, Madison; sisters: Patricia Manske (Mark) Rochester, Minn., and Carrie (Mike) Gorges, Kaukauna and his brother: Daniel, Madison; niece: Marissa (Manske) Will, Rochester, Minn.; her husband: Chris and their children: Ava and Mason; nephew: Paul Manske, Rochester, Minn.; nephew: Jack Gorges; niece: Katie Gorges, both of Kaukauna. And his beloved Aunt Shirley and Uncle Charlie Smith, Appleton. The Egan family extends its deepest gratitude for their assistance in handling Dave’s affairs to the following: Ainsley de Boers, John Lacey, Karen Keep, Karen Elder, John Flatberg, Sara Minkoff, Diane Vosick and Kelly Kindscher.
There will be a gathering to honor Dave on April 1 in the auditorium at 1 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin in Madison Arboretum, 1207 Seminole Hwy., Madison. Dave’s ashes will be spread in Lake Roberts on May 8, 2023 (his birthday) and in the Konkapot Creek at an unspecified date and time. We urge friends to donate/vo lunteer in Dave’s memory to the following organizations: 1000 Islands Environmental Center, c/o Friends of 1000 Islands, Kaukauna, Wi. University of Wisconsin Arboretum, Madison, Wi. Red Feather Development Group, Flagstaff, Ar. Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, Kanab, Ut. Northern Arizona university School of Forestry,Flagstaff, Ar.


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