I thought I should share that Steve Lucas has passed away yesterday. Also known as ExoticRainforest here on Daves Garden.. He was very enthusiastic about aroids and finding the answers for them. He will be very much missed.
Steve Lucas passing.
What will happen with his Exotic Rainforest?
He has left us a rich legacy here --may he rest in peace.
Steve was not only an asset to the I.A.S., he was a good friend and mentor to many of us and he will be dearly missed. His enthusiasm and desire was to share his knowledge of Aroids to anyone who asked and I am one that sure has appreciated him over the few years I've known him.
Steve left way too soon but may he rest in peace.
I was so sad to get home from work this morning and find an email from Steve that was not written by him.
Steve has been most helpful, and has worked tirelessly to get the Aroid species that we collect to be correctly named.
I'll never forget when he asked me to show in the PF that Epipremnum aureum and Epipemnum pinnatum are different species and not synonyms. Although he showed me more reference than I'd ever seen, I explained that the PF followed USDA GRIN and wouldn't change till they did.
Steve then contacted the head botanist at GRIN. Shortly thereafter the two species were recognized by GRIN and Steve was even given credit for the update.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1112725/
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?312725
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?315461
Steve is the hardest working botanical volunteer that I have ever been acquainted with.
He is greatly appreciated and missed.
Aloha nui loa Steve! Rest well.
This message was edited Jan 15, 2011 2:11 PM
I was saddened to hear of his passing. He will be missed. Thoughts and prayers are with his family.
I'm sure that those closest to him learned this before I did....
I learned today that his beloved wife will be selling their house and the Rainforest with it. I hope that there is someone who was close to him in his passion that will gather the more rare plants in his collection and allow them to continue to flourish as he would have wished.
As I recall, he wasn't very old, was he? I mean, not elderly? Since I don't frequent this forum, I just saw this. His rainforest was gorgeous and I liked reading his posts. Very knowledgeable. His informative posts will be greatly missed.
Way too young.........
Yes, much too young,
I'm just a few years behind him with the same disease. I just turned 50.
Oh, he had "something"?? I wasn't aware of him being ill. What did he have?
I am really sorry to hear this, and I'm sorry we didn't know about it sooner. We have a memory garden forum where we can provide a tribute to our DG members who pass away: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/deceased/all/
For those of you who were close to Steve, would you help us by sharing any information you have? There's a contact sticky at the top of the forum, and if you scan a few of the threads, you'll quickly get a clear idea of what sort of information we generally need to start a tribute thread. Through this thread, his family and friends can post their own thoughts, and if you'd like, you can watch the thread for new posts from others who knew him.
Sense I had known Steve he had been in a wheelchair and was suffering from something, but he never mentioned what to me. It was however not what he had been fighting that caused his death but a severe heart attack. I was told he was found at his computer desk and that it was quick. I have to say the aroid forum has not had near as much activity sense his passing.
Rachel, the same could probably be said of each DG member who has passed away - everyone has their favorite areas of the site they frequent. The Memory Garden is open for non-subscribers to be able to read, which lets family members see what has been written without maintaining a subscription here. We've heard from a lot of those family members that the tributes to their loved ones are comforting to them.
Oh how sad even tho I am a paying member I look at the Memory Garden often. I had not been here on this forum in a while and now know what drew me to it.
Yes he was way to young togo away from us. He will be missed.
Lavina