Alan Carter Randall

Randall
Alan Carter Randall (Age 94)
Alan Carter Randall passed away August 30 at the age of 94. Born in Seattle and raised north of the Arctic Circle in Fort Yukon, Alaska, he spent his early childhood in a remote town of just 100 residents, where his father served as Deputy U.S. Marshal. When Alan was eleven, his parents, Raymond and Emily Legg, relocated the family to Seattle during World War Two. That unusual beginning left a lasting imprint, instilling a lifelong love of the outdoors.

Alan earned his degree from the University of Washington in 1952, then served in the U.S. Army in Japan. On his return, he enrolled in the College of Forest Resources, beginning a career that spanned continents and decades. His favorite advice about being a forester was that "every day was a picnic in the woods and every weekend a honeymoon."

In addition to graduate studies at the University of Michigan in natural resources, his early work career took him from the Olympic Peninsula to Sweden, England, and Chile, where he studied and managed forests, mapped timberlands, and contributed to international forestry research. While training Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic, he successfully managed a fire that threatened a community, earning commendation from the U.S. government. Fluent in Spanish, he later joined the Organization of American States (OAS), focusing on development and resource management across Latin America.

He went on to work with the Panamanian government to reforest the watershed of the Panama Canal and, with The Nature Conservancy and the Fundación Moisés Bertoni, helped establish the 160,000-acre Mbaracayú subtropical forest preserve in Paraguay. A colleague later reflected, "There would be no Fundación Moisés Bertoni without Alan, and through his influence, thousands of people have been trained and inspired."

Alan is survived by his sons, Eric (Claire) and John (Rebecca), his sister, Eleanor, and his ex-wife, Julia, along with several grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. His family, friends, and colleagues will remember him for his curiosity, his affable nature, and his enduring belief in the importance of caring for both people and the natural world.