Kevin Li

Kevin LI Kevin Dean Li, age 50, died Monday, January 30th after a scuba diving accident. Kevin loved being outdoors, especially near the water. He was diving close to his favorite place, Ebeys Landing, when the accident occurred. In his life Kevin accomplished many projects which helped to nurture the environment he so loved. Kevin worked tirelessly to make sure that wildlife could continue to live in a pure environment. Among the species that benefited were frogs, lizards, fish, purple martins, shrimp, puffins, and people. Kevin received his Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries from the University of Washington in 1978 and worked at the King County Environmental Lab for over 14 years. His various other jobs included working at the Smithsonian invertebrate lab in high school, on Egg Island in Maine for the Audubon Society Puffin Recovery Project, counting fish in the Bering Sea, for a lizard project in Honduras, and in El Salvador for a shrimp program for Voices on the Border. But his most beloved project was in spearheading the complete recovery of purple martins in Seattle and Puget Sound. These birds had been entirely absent for 15 years, and he brought them back. Every spring now they return from Brazil to the nesting sites that Kevin created, often flying around his head as he was putting the nest boxes up. Kevin was very active in sports as well. His after work activities included biking, kayaking, windsurfing, volleyball, snorkeling, tennis, hiking and birding. He accepted all people into his circle of friends, and he loved to cook massive quantities of food for them. He was Matsutake King and loved those mossy glens. He will be sorely missed by all. Kevin is survived by his partner of 10 years, Kris Baker, his brother, Christopher Li and family of Bethesda, MD, sister, Suzanne Li of Flushing, NY, his uncle, James Wong of Ann Arbor, MI, his uncle, Frederick Wong of New York, NY, and his aunt, Jean Wong of Flushing, NY, as well as relatives and friends across the world. A Memorial Service will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, February 3rd at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle (http://depts.washington.edu/urbhort/html/info/contact.html, or call 206.543.8616 for directions). We are asking for people to bring along favorite type-written stories in order to make a Book of Kevin, so that we can share his life. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Georgia Basin Ecological Assessment and Restoration Society, which is currently establishing a foundation to further Purple Martin projects and research on the West Coast. For more information, please contact Kris Baker, e-mail address: blue_firetail@yahoo.com.