Henry Sheldon Fitch

Henry Sheldon Fitch, 99, of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away on September 8, 2009, at the home of his daughter and son-in-law in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Arrangements are under the direction of Palmer Marler Funeral Home, Stillwater.
Henry was born December 25, 1909, the son of Chester Fitch and Alice T. (Chenery) Fitch in Utica, New York. After a childhood outside of Medford, Oregon, he received his B.A from the University of Oregon and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He then worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the San Joaquin Range in California. His career was interrupted by two tours of army duty in World War II, after which he returned to the San Joaquin Range. He married Virginia Preston in 1946, and shortly afterwards was transferred to Leesville, Louisiana. In 1948 he assumed a professorship at the University of Kansas where he taught and served as steward of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation. Although his primary interest was in herpetology, he published papers in community ecology, mammalogy, and ornithology, and he even wrote a book on the spiders of the K.U. Natural History Reservation. He retired from K.U. as Emeritus Professor in 1980, but continued to live and work at the Natural History Reservation until 2006.
Survivors in the immediate family include his sons, John and Chester, his daughter, Alice, five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia, and his three siblings, Chester, Margaret, and Ruth.
The family suggests that any memorials go to the Henry S. and Virginia R. Fitch Memorial Fund for the support of the K.U. Fitch Natural History Reservation through the K.U. Endowment Association and sent in care of Rumsey Yost Funeral Home, P.O. Box 1260, Lawrence, Kansas, 66044.
Online condolences may be sent to www.pmcfh.com.