|
The Balance Wheel | |
| ACI home | Newsletters home | Winter 99 Issue |
Information
Chief
| ||
|
James F. Keefe, who headed the Missouri Department of Conservation's Information Section from 1957 to 1985, died Sept. 11 at University of Missouri-Columbia Hospital Medical Center in Columbia following a brief illness. He was 75. Starting as an information writer for the Conservation Department in 1951, Keefe served as managing editor of "Missouri Conservationist" Magazine from 1955 until 1985. During that time the magazine's monthly circulation increased from 20,000 to nearly 400,000. He penned hundreds of articles and monthly editorials in which he articulated the Conservation Department's philosophy and explained its policies to millions of readers. Conservation Commissioner Ron Stites once called Keefe "Missouri's conservation conscience." In 1958 the Conservation Commission promoted Keefe to head its information section. He continued in that capacity for 27 years, building a public information program that won national and international acclaim for its magazine, books and nature films. In 1985, the Conservation Commission assigned Keefe to write a history of the Conservation Department's first five decades. | 
Keefe was active in national conservation information efforts. He served as president of Association for Conservation Information and the Missouri Outdoor Communicators. He was active in the Outdoor Writers Association of America, earning that group's highest conservation honor, The Jade of Chiefs Award, in 1980. The Conservation Commission named him a Master Conservationist in 1998, and the Conservation Federation of Missouri honored Keefe with its Conservation Communicator of the Year Award in 1970. "Jim could guide people without seeming to," said Joel Vance, who worked under Keefe for many years. "He was a great writer, which was often overlooked because he was editor of the Conservationist. His monthly editorials were pertinent, incisive and enormously influential." |
Malcolm "Mac" Johnson, himself a long-time Conservationist editor, recalled that Keefe fostered a sense of community among his staff by spending time with them outdoors. "It was part of the job to him to go out and do the things we wrote about in the magazine," said Johnson. "He not only loved to hunt and fish, he had a deep understanding of natural history. That's why he was so good at writing scripts for nature films." Conservation Department News Services Coordinator Jim Low remembers Keefe as a mentor who encouraged aspiring conservation communicators. "Jim was never too busy to spend time with a green journalism student who had a fire in the belly to write about the outdoors," said Low. "He possessed a quiet gentility that enabled him to make everyone feel their work was important, and that they could make a difference. "The conservation program that Missouri has today couldn't have been built without a solid foundation of public understanding and support. Jim Keefe nurtured Missourians' love of the natural world and gave them a clear vision of what was needed to preserve it. That's his greatest legacy." --Jim Low |