Eugene Decker

Eugene "Gene" Decker passed away on April 26, 2024, at the age of 94. He was born on April 15, 1930, in Columbus, Ohio, to Ruth and Chester Decker. He graduated from Emlenton High School in Pennsylvania and then attended Pennsylvania State University where he earned a B.S. in Forestry in 1952 and an M.S. in Forestry (Wildlife Management) in 1955. In 2001, he was honored as the alumni of the year by Penn State's Department of Ecosystem Science and Management for teaching and mentoring generations of students and professionals around the world.

He married Sarah Lobban in 1961 and moved with her to a log cabin in Montana where he worked for the US Forest Service and watched grizzly bears at the dump for entertainment. They moved to Loveland in 1967 when Gene joined the College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University (CSU). He was a professor of wildlife biology for more than 31 years in the Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology. He taught courses in natural resources, public relations, wildlife management, and international wildlife resources.

Professor Decker served as a mentor to international graduate and undergraduate students from across Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Germany, Australia, and Nepal. His international efforts in wildlife conservation included work in Iran, Egypt, and Africa. He received many awards including The Wildlife Society Conservation Education Award in 1983 for the Colorado wildlife education program developed under his direction, and the Best Teacher Award from the CSU Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society in 1999. After retiring, he was honored with emeritus professor status. He continued to guest lecture at CSU and Front Range Community College for the rest of his life. He noted that few of the students even knew an octogenarian and even fewer had ever been taught by a nonagenarian.

He spent extensive periods of time developing, coordinating, and conducting training programs in conservation and in communications/public relations. This includes the well-known, weeklong Wildlife Management Short Course at CSU; ecology study tours of east, central, and southern Africa; and a course in effective personal presentations offered annually for The Wildlife Society.

In addition to teaching at CSU, he spent summers at the American Wilderness Leadership School in Jackson, Wyoming, where he taught environmental education and how to fly fish for decades. He led over thirty ecology study tours of Iran and east, central, and southern Africa as well as tours to Patagonia, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1974, he moved to Kenya with his family to work with the United Nations Development Program at various national parks, primarily in Amboseli. He also supported wildlife conservation efforts in Iran, Egypt, Honduras, and throughout the US.

Gene traveled the world with his binoculars and fly rod, with a special love for the trout streams in New Zealand. He tracked big horn sheep in the Rockies, caught piranha on a fly in Boliva, hunted grouse in Scotland, snowshoed in Hokkaido, Japan, to see Siberian swans, and took his Brittany Spaniels bird hunting all over the West.

He built community and connection wherever he went. With his wife, Sally, he was a founding member of the Foothills Unitarian Church, an active member of the Namaqua Unitarian Church and a key participant in his neighborhood's "Gab on the Slab."

His military service includes active duty in 1952 and active reserve duty from 1953 to 1960; he was honorably discharged as captain in the Army in 1962.

He continues to be an inspiration to friends, former students and colleagues, and family. He lived his life with integrity, a commitment to teaching, daily dog walks, and a dry sense of humor. He was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Sarah Lobban Decker, and his brother Kenneth, and is survived by his three daughters, Katherine Gayle, Diane Lapierre, and Martha Decker, and seven grandchildren. He has finally crossed the Rubicon.

A celebration of his life will be held on Monday June 3rd, at Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom at CSU at 10:00 am

Donations in his memory can be made to scholarship funds established in his honor at CSU:

In 2011, the Eugene Decker Game Management Fellowship (63105) and in 2020, the Eugene Decker Veterans Scholarship (79855) were established to support students in the Warner College of Natural Resources and to commemorate the career and life of Professor Eugene Decker. In lieu of flowers, donations to these funds can be sent to the Colorado State University Foundation at P.O. Box 1870, Fort Collins, CO 80522. Please include Eugene Decker's name in the memo line. You can also give online by visiting https://give.colostate.edu/campaigns/43503/donations/new . Click on "Additional Designations" to find the funds in Eugene Decker's name and include his name under "Tribute" to make the gift in his memory.

Or to Ducks Unlimited: https://www.ducks.org/get-involved/memorial-giving

Condolences to the family may be shared at bohlenderfuneralchapel.com.