James "Jim" Richards Furnish passed away peacefully on January 11, 2025, in his home in Gila, NM.
Jim was born in Tyler, Texas, on his mother's 30th birthday, October 3, 1945, to Eula (Becky) Beck and William (Bill) Furnish. He was the fourth of five children and was raised in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia where his father worked as a petroleum geologist, then in Iowa City, Iowa, where he graduated from University High School. He then earned a Forestry degree at Iowa State University. He excelled at competitive swimming at both the high school and collegiate levels, winning a team Big Eight Championship in 1967 while at ISU.
Jim enjoyed a love for the outdoors, skiing, and fly fishing, and conservation was a lifetime commitment. He joined the U.S. Forest Service in 1967 where he had a 34-year career serving in increasingly responsible positions in Maine, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, and finally as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, DC. He was environmentally conscious about the health of the forests and the creatures who live there.
As Supervisor of the Siuslaw National Forest in Oregon–a role he held from 1992 to 1999–the Siuslaw became a national model for restoration-focused forestry, moving away from decades of clearcut logging to prioritize ecological health and biodiversity. Jim promoted the Siuslaw's transformation to a wide audience through two video documentaries, "Torrents of Change" and "Seeing the Forest." As Deputy Chief in DC, Jim led the team that promulgated the Forest Service's Roadless Rule, which protected about 60 million wildland acres from logging road construction. This unprecedented conservation rule survived several court challenges, a testimony to the rigor of Jim's analysis and inspirational leadership.
Jim's was not the typical career of a federal bureaucrat. Throughout his career, Jim defied convention as he sought new ways that the U.S. Forest Service could better serve the public and steward the "natural forest" he envisioned in his memoir "Toward a Natural Forest: The Forest Service in Transition," published in 2015. Jim was not shy about pushing the envelope to advance the public interest because of his core philosophy that public lands belong to the people. He retired in 2001 and continued his activity in forestry through consulting, advocacy, and serving on the boards of several organizations, including Evangelical Environmental Network, Wildlands CPR, Geos Institute, WildEarth Guardians, and Climate Forest Campaign.
He is survived by his five children, Julie (Chad) Even, Jessica (John) Berke, Beth Furnish (Mike Oehrtman), Abigail Furnish, and Samuel Furnish; seven grandchildren Grace McKinney, Hunter Even, Ethan Berke, Tate Even, Alice "Gertie" Berke, Verena Oehrtman, and Amelia Oehrtman; and one great-grandchild (Marjori Berke); and his four siblings, Dale (Luella) Furnish, Jean (John) Spitzer, Ann Ford, and Joseph (Frances Marcus) Furnish. He is also survived by Mary Saylor Parry and Judy Burton Furnish, the mothers of his children, and by his partner April Crosby in Gila, New Mexico.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents, his Aunt Mary Betty Huber, his dear friend and brother-in-law, William Ford, and his sister-in-law, Darlia Wright.
Throughout his life, Jim enjoyed golf, bicycling, walking his dogs, vacuuming, and came to love pickleball. He was a faithful church member and volunteered with numerous community organizations. Jim was intelligent, curious, adaptable, and kind.
A memorial service is being planned for the Spring in Iowa City, Iowa. For more information or to send remembrances, contact the family at
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James "Jim" Richards Furnish, please visit our floral store.
