In Memoriam - Rick Zuegel

Rick Zuegel Photo by Jeff Nutkowitz

Nature photography lost a great friend and advocate when Richard "Rick" Zuegel passed away on May 6 after a long struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Rick was a founding board member of NANPA and was also its first treasurer. To say Rick was instrumental in getting NANPA off the ground is an understatement.

I first met Rick in 1993 at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute during the gathering of photographers that led to the formation of NANPA. Rick impressed me with his intelligence, photographic knowledge and his continual smile. When we were looking for strong founding members for the NANPA board, Rick immediately came to mind. NANPA benefited tremendously in its formative years from Rick's financial wisdom and pragmatic decision making.

Rick was the organizer and master of ceremonies for NANPA's first annual photography gathering in the spring of 1995, the Fort Meyers Forum. In spite of it being NANPA's first event, Rick calmly and effectively pulled off an amazing gathering of nature photographers assuring a bright future for the organization. Because of his leadership, Rick was selected in 1996 as one of three founding board members of the NANPA Foundation. In 1999, Rick was given NANPA's Outstanding Service Award.

Rick was a long-time Kodak employee and served as a Kodak ambassador, providing NANPA with invaluable resources and contacts, including a future NANPA president, Al Sieg. Even though most NANPA members knew Rick for his board leadership, his real forte was his photographic knowledge and expertise. He demonstrated this skill in the numerous photo books he published, both instructional and books of his wonderful photography.

While Rick will be sadly missed by NANPA, his influence on the organization will be lasting.

Mark J. Lukes

You can post your thoughts about Rick at Legacy.com through June 9, 2009.