RIP Rudy Mancke
Beloved South Carolina naturalist Rudy Mancke dies after battle with liver disease
BY SAMMY FRETWELL
NOVEMBER 08, 2023
University of South Carolina’s naturalist-in-residence Rudy Mancke was widely regarded for his knowledge of the state’s environment. THE STATE file photo Beloved South Carolina naturalist Rudy Mancke, whose statewide television program NatureScene enlightened legions of people through the years about the environment, died Tuesday night after battling liver disease. Mancke, 78, was surrounded by his family when he passed away, his wife said.
A native of Spartanburg, Mancke was often the go-to person to discuss South Carolina’s wide array of plants and animals. With an easygoing style and a soft southern drawl, Mancke loved teaching about the natural world. His wife, Ellen, said Mancke had an interest in nature from an early age. She remembers him leading nature tours for church youth when he was a teenager in Spartanburg.
“He was always a teacher, always teaching,’’ she said. “One of his main talents was being able to speak to a crowd of children through adults and everybody understood what he was saying.’’ Comments on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, poured out Wednesday as news of Mancke’s death spread. Ellen Mancke said she had answered multiple phone calls from friends and family. “He was a treasure filled with knowledge and wit,’’ tweeted Andy Shain, a former reporter now with the University of South Carolina. Patrick Moore, a conservationist with the Open Space Institute, said Mancke’s death is a substantial loss to South Carolina and the country.
“Conservationists all over South Carolina and around the world credit Rudy with their passion for the outdoors,’’ Moore said. “He generously loved South Carolina and we are all better off having known him.’’ Mancke was at one time natural history curator at the S.C. State Museum, as well as a high school biology and geology teacher, S.C. Public Radio reported.
He is a Wofford College graduate, with honorary degrees from the College of Charleston, Winthrop University and Wofford, the radio outlet reported. NatureScene, which he hosted with Beryl Dakers and Jim Welch, ran from 1978 to 2002 and was widely regarded for its detailed looks at plants and wildlife in South Carolina. The show later expanded to feature venues across the country and the world.
One of those was a look at how plants and animals had rebounded at Chernobyl, the nuclear plant in Ukraine known as the site of perhaps the world’s worst atomic disaster. Mancke also was the naturalist in residence at the University of South Carolina and founder of the S.C. Native Plant Society. He won numerous awards from conservation organizations for his work. More recently, Mancke hosted a series of one-minute radio spots on S.C. Public Radio called “Nature Notes.’’
The radio snippets featured quick looks all kinds of animals and plants. Some recent spots included features on monkey spiders, fig beetles, pollen, black racer snakes, yellow jackets and crab apples. In an interview with Columbia Metropolitan magazine, Mancke discussed his love of nature from an early age and why it was important.
“I recognize the healing properties of being in nature, especially when the man-made world begins to feel overwhelming,’’ he said. Mancke died after being hospitalized last week. He had been having health problems since liver disease was discovered in July, his wife said. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later, Ellen Mancke said.
Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/...#storylink=cpy
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by BigBrother
Bookmarks