Robert Marshall: A Forester and Crusader

Rugged woodsman Bob Marshall (photo courtesy of wilderness.net)Rugged woodsman Bob Marshall (photo courtesy of wilderness.net)

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No man ever rode the crest of the wave or life with higher purpose or more joyousness than Bob Marshall. In electing his way of life, Bob chose mainly those activities that would help to make life better for those who need a hand or would preserve the quality of naturalness of some of our wild land. His ability to walk 60 miles a day in any man's country, and to finish with a spring in his step, typified the zest with which he tackled everything. He was as interested in a whimsical “study” of the dinner-table conversation of lumberjacks as in the IQ tests he made on Eskimos and his studies of Arctic vegetation. He was as passionately devoted to the development of organization camps for outings of underprivileged children as to the preservation of wildernesses where those of special vigor and love of solitude might find adventure. And never a thought of personal prestige in any of his projects or his gifts to good causes.

Death came with shocking suddenness. Bob left Washington Friday night, Nov. 10, on the Pullman for New York for a weekend family gathering. He was apparently in good health, and was looking forward eagerly to the family reunion. His death was discovered on the arrival of the train in New York and was evidently due to coronary thrombosis.

Men like Marshall can ill be spared. He was a force for many good movements. He had the mental and physical vigor to drive ahead and to inspire and arouse enthusiasm in others. His joyousness and his lively sense of humor were contagious. His capacity for friendship had no bounds. He was “Bob” to hosts – from justices of the Supreme Court to his beloved friends of the Arctic. Surely no man ever had more friends to mourn him.

But Bob would not want to be mourned. His going was shockingly premature, but he was not afraid to go. He came close to death in Alaska last summer. If there is a Valhalla for the spirits of men, may Bob's spirit find there one of his beloved wilderness areas – something to bring forth that expression we often heard him use, “Gee, this is swell!”

District Forester F. A. Silcox
Vol. XXIII. No. 24
Nov 27, 1939