NANFA-- Peter Unmack on Tom Webster

Christopher Scharpf (ichthos_at_charm.net)
Thu, 20 Jun 2002 18:27:00 -0400

forwarded from Peter Unmack:

G'day folks

Thought I would provide a few more details for folks regarding Tom Webster.
Tom started to feel ill around mid May and it was finally about a week ago
that he was confirmed to have liver and lung cancer and was only given weeks
to live. His wife Kaz told me the following this morning.

He died at home surrounded by me, his two sons and my niece, and seemed to
be at peace with himself when he died. As he wished, he will be cremated and
his ashes scattered. There will be no memorial service.

Tom and Kaz lived in Sacramento and were quite involved in the local
aquarium hobby. After a trip to Ash Meadows in 1995 they fell in love with
the desert and its pupfishes. They became very active and involved in the
area, not only through attending all of our conservation trips and learning
of the human history of the area, but by taking the lead on starting the
Desert Springs Action Committee website (http://www.pupfish.net/dsac) which
stands today as a excellent testiment to Tom's dedication to the cause of
desert fishes. He literally spent weeks of time working on the site and
continued to update things even very recently.

Those of you who attended the last Death Valley DFC meeting might have seen
Tom's talk on the historic photographic record of Ash Meadows. He had
scanned somewhere around 3-4000 images obtained from many sources, including
many DFC members. This was a massive undertaking which he did a great job of
compiling. Some examples can be found on the website at
http://www.pupfish.net/habitats/index.htm . Eventually his photographic
efforts on Ash Meadows will get published.

Tom was a great friend and was always very generous to others and keen to
help out anyway he could. Yesterday was a sad day for desert fish
enthusiasts. Our DSAC trips won't quite ever be the same without him.

Best fishes
Peter
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