ISU professor emeritus, AAAS Fellow Wayne Minshall dies at age 81
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – Idaho State University professor emeritus and researcher Wayne Minshall died on April 21 at the age of 81.
He is survived by his wife, Judy. Minshall had been suffering from esophageal cancer and had been through treatment.
Until his final days, he remained active as a mentor and friend to faculty and students in the ISU biological science department and the ISU Stream Ecology Center. He founded and maintained an office at the ISU Stream Ecology Center.
“It is no stretch to describe him as the most accomplished scientist in his field of any scientist who has come through ISU who built their career here,” said Colden Baxter, ISU biological sciences professor, director of the Stream Ecology Center and a long-time colleague and friend of Minshall. “When people think of our University in that field (stream ecology), that places us on a footing with the top institutions in the world. We owe that kind of reputation to him, and of course, to Idaho’s great streams and rivers, that draw people here to learn.”
Minshall officially retired from ISU in 2003 after a 37-year career. During that time, he authored more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and 130 technical reports. He was an internationally recognized expert on the ecology of flowing waters and the ecology of fire. He directed more than 100 research grants, and more than 50 scientists completed their graduate degrees under his direction. Minshall received several honors and awards, including ISU Distinguished Researcher. The ISU Department of Biological Sciences hosts an annual lecture series in his name.
In 2004, Minshall was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “being honored for distinguished contributions to the field of stream ecology, particularly for stream ecosystem structure and function, and long-term effects of wildfires on stream ecosystems.”
AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world and being elected as an AAAS fellow is a rare honor for Idaho scholars.
“He is really the only AAAS Fellow from ISU who essentially built their whole career here,” Baxter said. “That is one measure of just how outstanding of a scientist he was.”
A small graveside service for Minshall will be held at the Inkom cemetery, and a larger memorial will be held at a later date to be announced.
