Dr. Nancy Guttmann Slack

Nancy Guttmann Slack – naturalist, ecology professor, ADK 46'er, ardent lover of plants and birds, and beloved wife, mother, grandma, aunt, mentor and friend – died, unexpectedly but peacefully, on December 21, 2022, at the age of 92. She was surrounded by her family, who will miss her terribly, but will cherish the memory of her extraordinary spirit and the gift of her remarkable life. Born in Brooklyn in 1930, Nancy fell in love with birds as a child and went on to the ornithology program at Cornell. While at Cornell, Nancy's love of outdoor adventure led her to meet her husband of 65 years, Glen Alfred Slack, on a college camping trip. They passed their love of the outdoors on to all 3 kids and 6 grandkids. Nancy earned both a BS and MS in biology from Cornell. While raising her young children, she loved taking her adult students, the "Thursday Naturalists," on fieldtrips. A move to the country in 1963, meant the chance to also teach her kids natural history. Glen's sabbatical took the family to Oxford in 1966, where Nancy began PhD coursework in ecology at the University. Asked to teach a course on mosses, she fell in love with bryophyte ecology – a new discipline which was expanding in Europe. She decided to bring bryophyte ecology back to the US and earned her doctorate from SUNY Albany, conducting research in the Adirondacks. The NY State Museum published her thesis, Species Diversity and Community Structure in Bryophytes, for which she won the Paul C. Lemon award. Nancy then taught biology at Russell Sage College for > 30 years. With Glen, she led countless student trips to the Caribbean to study tropical and marine ecology. She loved teaching and mentoring students; many of her research assistants becoming lifelong friends. Several worked with her for the rest of her life, including Yolanda Alcorta, Beth Johnson, Mary Cameron and Chris Berte. Nancy continued to research bryophytes, regional ecosystems, peatland ecology and ecological niche theory. She and long-time collaborator D. Vitt published the first North American study of the ecology of mosses in fens. She published > 20 other peer-reviewed articles on bryophyte ecology and co-edited the book Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change (2011). She also taught history of science and contributed a book chapter on 19th Century American Women Botanists to Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives (1987), co-edited the book Creative Couples in the Sciences (1996), and after her retirement wrote the authoritative biography of one of her mentors: Evelyn Hutchinson and the Invention of Modern Ecology (2010). The year in Oxford was a wonderful time for the whole family to travel in Great Britain and western Europe. Believing that travel was the best possible education, these adventures often took us kids out of school (to our great delight). A second sabbatical opportunity in the 1970s took the entire family to Gothenburg, Sweden, for a year – and new opportunities to travel. After Sweden, Nancy and Glen continued to travel and visit friends all over the world – to every continent except Antarctica. After retirement, Nancy taught bryophyte ecology courses at Eagle Hill, ME, served a term as President of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, and continued to do research, including in the New England alpine. With photographer A. Bell, she wrote and published the Adirondack Alpine Summits: An Ecological Field Guide, and the AMC Field Guide to the New England Alpine Summits. Nancy was active for a lifetime in the Nature Conservancy, the Adirondack Mountain Club and ECOS. Among the awards she received was the 2014 Guy Waterman Alpine Steward Award for lifetime achievement in alpine ecology and conservation work for NE mountain wilderness. Nancy and Glen moved to the Glen Eddy in Niskayuna in 2018. With many longtime and new friends and her cherished cat Tycho, this new community helped one another through the pandemic. In 2022, Nancy was as adventurous as ever, travelling with various kids, grandkids and friends to an ecology conference in Montreal; a bryophyte conference in AK – where she climbed up to the alpine; Emmett's college graduation in OR; birding in Patagonia, AZ; her beloved Sanibel Island; and the San Bernardino mountains, where she danced at her granddaughter Rachel's wedding, alongside her large, boisterous family. She played dulcimer with hootenanny friends, led field trips for the still ongoing Thursday Naturalists and ECOS, taught the weekly "Monday Mossers," sang in a choir, completed her c. 60th annual "century run" with fellow birders, folk danced and read plays, and kept up with an immense, globe-straddling list of friends. In Nov 2022, she received the Rachel Carson Lifetime Achievement Award from ECOS. She was especially delighted to see not only her kids, but also all six grandkids finish college, and settle down with wonderful partners and in careers that they enjoy. Nancy lived her last year as she lived all her years: with great energy, endless curiosity, generosity of heart, a deep sense of wonder and love of family, friends and nature. And she died as she lived, as well: on her own terms, not according to plan, and without telling anyone where she was going. Everyone who loved Nancy knows that she would have wanted to go out at the top of her game, and we take great comfort in the fact that she did. Nancy is survived by her children Mari Eggers, David (Lucy) and Jonathan (Monica) Slack, grandchildren Rachel (Marcela), Jacob (Laura), Zohe (Michelle), Eric (Raiven), Emmett (Marty) and Jessica (Erik), brothers-in-law Joe (Judy) and Bruce (Linda) Slack and Ed Prenowitz, nieces and nephews Julie, Sarah and Tom, Amy and Eric, Patty, Kelly and Stuart, Michelle and Duncan - and Tycho, her treasured cat, who has a new home with Emmett and Marty. The family especially thanks all those who helped Nancy enjoy life at the Glen Eddy, and her Monday Mosser colleagues who are finishing the cataloguing and donating of her extensive moss collections. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor Nancy's memory are encouraged to donate to ECOS, the Environmental Clearinghouse (www.ecosny.org). There will be a memorial service to celebrate the extraordinary life of Nancy G. Slack, on Aug 12, 2023. Please join us at (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YrDuFaKvh54MrTSkINnTQy691kNvCRKtdYigrEFcL0w/edit?usp=sharing) to share memories and find memorial service updates. Niskayuna