'A passion for nature': Remembering the man synonymous with fishing in Central Illinois

GALESBURG — A man whose name was nearly synonymous with fishing and the outdoors in west-central Illinois for over five decades has died.

Ken Russell, a district fish biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for 53 years, died at home on Jan. 19. Although he never retired from the job he loved, he was forced to give up his passion in 2016 due to health issues.

He was 82 years old.

Obituary: Kenneth C. Russell: 1939-2022

“Ken loved what he did with fishing and hunting and other outdoors activities. He was a trapper as well,” said Al Hayden, former owner of Al’s Sporting Goods in Galesburg for 34 years and former outdoors columnist for The Register-Mail.

“He could have retired but he loved what he did.”

“He helped me release turkeys in Knox County,” said Ken Emerick, a retired DNR wildlife biologist who shared an office with Russell for many years.

“There was a working relationship but that wasn’t his job. He just enjoyed doing things like that.”

Russell was born in Ossining, New York, where he fished in the Hudson River and walked the woods in the area as a young boy. Later, when his family moved to Ohio, he learned to hunt, and his love of the outdoors grew.

He graduated from Tarkio College in Missouri, met his wife Janet and obtained a degree in biology. They eventually had three children, five grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Russell began his job with the state of Illinois in 1962.

He studied every stream, river and lake in west-central Illinois. His duties included conducting studies and surveys, hosting educational field days, talking to school children and helping organize fishing derbies that included the popular fishing derby at Galesburg’s Lincoln Park Lagoon which began in 1987 and is still held annually.

Tribute to a man of nature: Friends look to honor longtime conservation educator Ken Russell

“He stocked the fish in Lake Storey and sent up tanks to put them in so the kids — and adults too — could see what kind of fish were in Lake Storey,” said Hayden, a main organizer of the event.

“There were turtles and big flatheads in the tanks and you could pet them if you wanted to.”

“What I remember so much was the education part of what he did,” Emerick said.

“I remember the days of demonstrations and working with landowners,” he continued. “That was before all the stuff they have now.

“He had an ability to talk to people. He was good.

“That was at the top of the list of the things he did.”

In 2017 the city of Galesburg erected a monument to Russell at the entrance to the Lake Storey boat ramp area at the U.S. 150 bridge and officially named the site the Ken Russell Conservation Area. He has received similar honors at Snake Den Hollow Fish and Wildlife Area and Citizen’s Lake.

The inscription on the Galesburg monument reads: “In 53 years as State of Illinois Fish Biologist in Knox and surrounding counties Ken’s passion for nature is demonstrated by a lifetime of caring for the area’s waters. Ken is known throughout West Central Illinois as an outstanding educator, author, historian and a true gentleman.”

“He just didn’t work on public lakes, he worked on a lot of private ponds, too,” Hayden said.

“He did studies out at Oak Run and Lake Bracken.

“He worked for everybody. He was a servant of the people.”

Visitation for Russell will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday at Watson Thomas Funeral Home. Funeral mass will be held at at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Aloysius Church in Wataga.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Fishing, outdoors biologist Ken Russell of Galesburg dies