Photo taken by Larry Sunderland’s (\'55) wife in October 2005 on the forest property of Henry Kernan (\'41) in South Worcester, New York.

In Memory

David Martyn Smith ’46, Ph.D. ’50 (1921–2009), Morris K. Jesup Professor Emeritus of Silviculture at Yale University, author of the world’s most widely used forestry textbook, died in Hamden, Conn., on March 7, 2009, at the age of 87. Born March 10, 1921, in Bryan, Texas, he grew up in Kingston, R.I., and received a B.A. from the University of Rhode Island in 1941. He served as a meteorologist in the U.S. Army in World War II, received his M.F. and Ph.D. from Yale, and was on the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies faculty for almost his entire career. He served as Associate Dean, Manager of the Yale Forests, and in many other university and civic capacities. He was responsible for obtaining the Hartford Foundation grant of the mid 1950s that enabled many natural science faculty positions to be added to the School. In the early 1970s he served as silvicultural consultant to the President’s Advisory Panel on Timber and the Environment. He served as well as an advisor to the U.S. Forest Service and an advisor to government agencies in Australia and British Columbia. He was a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters, the New England branch of which uniquely awarded him its Distinguished Service Award twice, in 1969 and 1993. For four decades he was either a Director or President of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association and of Connwood Foresters, Inc., the nation’s oldest forest landowners’ cooperative. He was on the Connecticut Forest Practices Advisory Board during the 1990s and was for many years a Director of the Hamden Land Conservation Trust. American Forests gave him its Distinguished Service Award in 1990. The University of Rhode Island awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree and his forestry efforts in Maine brought him the same award from Bates College. He was the author/co-author of four editions of the textbook, The Practice of Silviculture, used throughout North America and, in several translations, throughout the world, and of numerous research papers and commentaries on forestry practices. His real contribution, however, was to the world of knowledge through his teaching, his ideas, his way of thinking, and the research he stimulated in his students. He was reluctant to be a co-author on their papers; however, some of his contributions are reflected in The Ecology and Silviculture of Mixed-Species Forests: A Festschrift for David M. Smith (1992). Dave was well respected by students, other professors and practitioners at all levels as an insightful, astute thinker; a calming voice with a broad perspective; and an effective teacher. Those fortunate enough to have studied under him appreciate him as the “power behind the ideas” of mixed species forests being “even-aged, stratified mixtures,” instead of all-aged forests. These ideas were expanded by his students. Through his teaching, Dave also gave several generations of Yale F&ES alumni a “systems” perspective. That is, instead of studying a subject by focusing on the subject with tunnel vision, we can learn very much by looking at all influences that lead into and away from the subject. This perspective has been expressed as one of his legacies by alumni and others he worked with in the sciences, management and other reaches of life. He is survived by his wife of nearly 58 years, Catherine Van Aken (Bobby) Smith; daughters, Ellen Smith of Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Nancy V. A. Smith of Carbondale, Colo.; grandson, Karl Norby of Oak Ridge; brother, Allen Smith, of Hendersonville, N.C.; and a niece, nephews and cousins.

Front Row, l to r:
Daniel E. Dick, William Colville Jr., George P. Thomas, Herbert I. Winer, Roger M. Melrose, Benjamin S. Troop, Aloise J. Lupa, Robert N. Webb, Shugan C. Gaur
2nd row:
A. Curry Patton, Charles D. Leaphart, John P. Wright, David C. Holmes, Marshall R. Turner, Ralph C. Bryant, William B. Osborne Jr., David H. Fordyce, Arnold J. Cohen, Herbert S. Damon
3rd row:
Thomas E. Batey Jr., Harry F. Damon Jr., John F. Lutz, Robert E. Hollowell Jr., James B. Carlaw, Edward S. Sowinski, Judd L. Welliver, [?] Fleisher, Percy A. Wilson, William W. Rice
4th row:
Robert I. Solow, Melvin P. Twerdel, Parker C. Whipple, Hurlon C. Ray, Allen W. Neff, Ben K. Cutrer, Martin Chudnoff, Leon M. Fiske Jr., Johnson, James S. Watson
Top row:
George A. McSwain, Thomas W. Jones, Robert S. Hyde, John N. Ballantyne, Frank H. Armstrong, Thomas F. Lynch, Greenwich, Ronald Gale, Subbarao K. Swamy, Mohammad S. Kakli

Missing: Ralph A. Read and Laurence C. Walker

CLASS NOTES, FALL 2008

Jim Carlaw was the first forester that International Paper ever hired, which involved him in very large sales and purchases of timberland and pulp. He retired to Cape Cod when he was 60. . . . Dan Dick writes: “Then there were 51 of us, the largest class in the history of the school at that time. Now there are 20 of us 59 years later. Not so bad. Noting that the previous issue of environment:Yale did not list a class secretary for our class, I volunteered and was appointed posthaste. Wiry Dave Fordyce, of Ogden, Utah, for years now has been concerned over the lack of forest management of the timberlands in those states where too little rainfall produces incendiary conditions. To quote Dave, ‘… forests need stocking control through heavy thinning, fire breaks along with prescribed burning. Both federal and private-property holders pulled back from these actions due to no financing and threatened lawsuits by environmental groups using surrogate reasons such as timber harvesting, thinning or any type of vegetative management that would purportedly threaten wildlife habitat, or perhaps, an endangered species. Judicial decisions were handed down to stay harvesting or any type of tree-cutting. With these management practices shut down or curtailed, ground fires turned into crown fires and total destruction of the forest. This year, money has been allocated for extensive thinning. Actually, when controlled, fire is very beneficial, such as in the South, to ensure regeneration.’ How about them apples?! I trust that the rest of us aren’t too old to find some similar passion stirring in our bloodstream about personal or professional issues of interest. How about it?” . . . Herb Winer, Ph.D. ’56, likes the international position the school holds as its curriculum and outreach have developed.

Herb was born December 24, 1917 in Malden, Mass., the son of Harry and Frances (Shove) Damon. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College. Soon after his college graduation he enlisted in the Navy, serving as an officer aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Smith in the South Pacific from 1941 to 1945. Having earned seven battle stars, he was second in command of the ship when he was finally transferred stateside to teach naval science at the University of Texas. In 1946, Herb married Margaret “Peggy” Damon and he obtained a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry as they were starting a family. After moving to North Conway in 1949, he owned and operated several ventures, including the Carroll County Service Company, a propane gas and appliance business, and a sawmill. He also worked as a forester, real estate agent and carpenter. From 1961 to the mid 1970’s, he taught general science to hundreds of junior high school students in Conway and Tamworth. In 1975, Herb and Peggy moved to Tamworth, where they started Hollow Hill Farm, a pick-your-own apple and berry business. They fully retired in 1993 and moved to New London. When Peggy began battling health problems, Herb became her devoted caregiver until her death in September 2007. From his early experiences on a canoe trip down the Allagash River at summer camp, he fell in love with the woods, mountains and streams of northern New England, a love that is evident in his many watercolor landscape paintings. He was an early trustee of the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, and, with Peggy, an avid birder for many years. Together they traveled from the Galapagos to Africa on birding and nature expeditions. Herb enjoyed young people of all abilities, volunteering time with the Eastern Slope Ski Club, Junior Ski Program, Boy Scouts, Little League and Community Center in North Conway. He was a loving father, grandfather, brother and uncle and his lively, irreverent sense of humor will be missed. Herb is survived by his children Edward N. Damon and his wife, Claudia, of Concord, Martha C. Damon and her husband, John Kane, of Huntingtown, Maryland, and Susan B. Damon and her husband, James Hurst, of Grantham; grandchildren Caroline Damon and her husband Andrew Gardner, Samuel Damon, Matthew Kane, David Kane, Edward Kane and Anna Hurst; brother Stephen Damon and his wife Ginny, of Tamworth, and sister Patricia Niswander and her husband Don, of Concord; and numerous nieces, nephews and in-laws. Besides Peggy, Herb was predeceased by an older brother, Harry “Bus” Damon, of Grand Rapids, Michigan and an older sister, Katharine Reed, of North Conway.