Roy Alexander

Roy Alexander, the first executive director of the Davidson Lands Conservancy and a longtime Mecklenburg County environmental educator, died suddenly on Sunday.

Under Alexander, the fledgling Davidson group became one of the most effective land trusts of its size and a part of the small town's fabric.

"There was an absolute metamorphosis of DLC almost since the moment Roy took over as director," said Jim Fuller, a Davidson lawyer and town commissioner who was president when the conservancy hired Alexander in 2006.

The nonprofit group, formed in 2000, now protects land at eight sites including a rare wetland threatened by development that is a nature preserve. It launched World of Wonder, a program that engages families with nature.

And Alexander became a go-to expert for town officials on planning and environmental matters.

Walks in the woods with the bearded, avuncular Alexander became quiet lessons in plant identification, the quirks of north Mecklenburg's rolling topography and why it was worth saving.

"He was just an indomitable spirit," said former conservancy president Pam Dykstra. "Walking with Roy, he knew every plant he found – there wasn't a flower he didn't know. He had just a wealth of information and a wealth of heart and a wealth of love for the land and this area."

Alexander, a Davidson College graduate, began his career as a biology teacher at Independence High School. He later spent 20 years at Charlotte's Discovery Place science museum, where he was director of biological and earth sciences.

Alexander was a founder of the group that became Mecklenburg's first Sierra Club chapter. He served on city and county parks commissions, water quality groups and served two terms on the State Parks and Recreation Trust Fund board. The Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation District named him winner of its urban conservation award in 2009.

"I've always told myself we get the government or the community or the society we deserve, and if we are not out there trying to make it better, it's going to go the opposite way," he said when the Observer named him a Guardian of the Environment in 2003. "It's an obligation that every individual has to do what they can for the general good."

As the Davidson conservancy's sole staff member, said current president Rob Van Epps, "Roy was certainly the heart and soul of the organization. Roy was extremely passionate about land conservation, and that passion is what kept us going."

At the conservancy's recent annual meeting, Fuller noted, officers from past boards also attended.

"It was because of Roy's personality, his leadership and absolute devotion to protecting the environment that people who served with him retained an interest," he said. "He was a wonderful person and a wonderful conservationist, and there's an empty space in my pantheon of heroes today."

- Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer