Ed Ketchledge dies at 85

Adirondack ecologist Ketchledge dies at 85

POTSDAM — Ed Ketchledge, a botanist and environmental educator who launched a decadeslong effort to preserve rare alpine plants atop the highest Adirondack peaks, has died. He was 85.

Ketchledge died at home in his sleep Wednesday after a long illness, according to Garner Funeral Home in Potsdam.

An avid outdoorsman, Ketchledge taught at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse from 1955 to 1985. His work on Mount Marcy and Algonquin Peak led to the High Peaks Summit Steward program, which protects rare alpine plants once trampled almost out of existence by hikers.

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Kogut came upon a quote from her father that summed up the way he felt about life.

"The proverbial bottom line for me is the simple truth that a man is not in full command of life if he cannot at least one day each week go fishing in his canoe, or go cross-country skiing, or go exploring a new mountain," Ketchledge wrote in 1989 in his notes.

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