Submitted by chris_wood on Tue, 2016-03-22 09:37 Stream Ambassadors Conservation The Front Porch Trout Magazine Outdoor Communicators National Leadership Council - NLC Vote Up Down +9 + me and Art.jpg Art Neumann, TU's first executive director, with Chris Wood, TU's president and CEO. By Chris Wood Art Neumann, the last of the original founders of Trout Unlimited, passed away yesterday. Those of us who answered the call of conservation, can quote Leopold, Pinchot, Carson, and any other number of other conservation visionaries. Lesser known is the legacy of Art Neumann. Art wasn't much for the catchy quote, though his adage, "take care of the fish and the fishing will take care of itself," guides Trout Unlimited a half century later. What Art did was to build an institution—an institution that began with him and a handful of other people along the banks of the Au Sable River, who were tired of the state's masking habitat degradation through stocking. Today, the "house that Art built" includes 400 chapters, over 155,000 members, and 240 scientists, biologists, and other professional staff who serve to make fishing, and the places that fish live, better. A month or so ago, I saw Art in Michigan with, Chris Radke and Howard Johnson. Chris and Howard represent the thousands of people in Michigan and around the country who will tirelessly carry on Art's legacy in service to the rivers, fish, anglers, kids, veterans and communities that define our great nation. Thanks and rest in peace, Art. Chris Wood is TU's president and CEO. He works from TU's Arlington, Va., headquarters.