Dan Quimby. Photo by Jack D. Jones
Quimby Endowment Fund Seeks Support
Vigorous efforts are underway to initiate and maintain a permanent endowment known as the Don C. Quimby Graduate Wildlife Research Fund named in honor of Don Quimby, professor of wildlife management emeritus. Income from the fund would provide scholarships for graduate students in the Fish and Wildlife Management and Range Science programs at MSU who are conducting field research in the state of Montana and whose research is focused on the management of free ranging species.
Retired chief of wildlife research for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, John Weigand, ’77 Ph.D., sees the need to nurture well-trained and motivated students like those Quimby mentored from 1948 to 1975 .
“The successful establishment of this fund at a minimum of $25,000 and eventually in excess of $100,000 is absolutely necessary to support the next generation of scientifically trained wildlife managers and teachers for Montana,” says Weigand, a member of the Quimby endowment fund steering committee. “Dr. Quimby’s insistence on scientific expertise to overcome ignorance, emotion and political agendas is his legacy and it deserves our support.”
In 1974 Quimby was presented with the Einersen Award of the Northwest Section of the Wildlife Society for outstanding professional achievements in wildlife management. Quimby not only helped create the professional standards for the wildlife profession, but also worked to see them implemented. Quimby worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (formerly Fish and Game) to assure that the minimum qualifications for fish and wildlife biologists was the M.S. level of education and management oriented research.
“Dr. Quimby was a student’s teacher and a teacher’s teacher. He could teach those who wanted to learn. He taught us how to think in the science of wildlife management, and not just what to think. He taught us to challenge any statement (no matter how seemingly reasonable) until it could be scientifically substantiated. Although strict in his teaching doctrine, he was unquestionably compassionate about each resolute student—hence his program produced a select band of ‘Davids’ in a universe of emotional and political ‘Goliaths,’” Weigand adds.

For more information about the Don C. Quimby Graduate Wildlife Research Fund or to make a donation, contact MSU Foundation development officer Tiffany Sandholm at 406-994-6858 or tsandholm@montana.edu.

For more information about the Montana State University Foundation, please visit their website at www.montana.edu/foundation.