I was saddened to hear of Jon's passing.  I've known Jon for nearly half a century. He was an extraordinary individual...one of a kind. He was instrumental in bringing wetlands and floodplains to the forefront of national policy. He was a mover and a shaker.  I am most familiar with his work on wetlands that helped guide national wetland policy, promoting wetland regulation, restoration, assessment, and conservation. He was an inspiration to many. As an accomplished writer, especially of policy, Jon has left us thousands of pages of his insight into many topics relevant to wetland and floodplain protection and conservation.  He was also an adventurer as I remember him telling a story of a family vacation in Central America where they were chased by local militia. Jon was a man of many talents.  He was a rock hound and had quite a collection of rocks at his home.  He invited me and my family to accompany him on one of his local expeditions to dig for Herkimer diamonds in upstate New York.  My kids (now adults) still remember this adventure.  For on a hot humid New York summer day, we spent hours digging with Jon in one of his favorite spots.  His enthusiasm for digging was contagious and we were all impressed by his determination to help us find some gems.  We did come home with a few but on the way home we passed an Amish farmstand where they were selling some that were larger than our treasures so we bought a few to add to our collection.  Wetlands and floodplains are better off than they were before Jon began his campaign to help them.  Thanks Jon for all your efforts and for establishing the National Association of Wetland Managers that will continue to fight for wetlands and floodplains.  May you rest in peace my friend.

So sad to hear of Jon’s passing. There is perhaps no other professional colleague to whom I owe as much for the career I’ve had, and during the 1970s and beyond few were as instrumental in moving wetlands to the forefront of policy and scientific discussion at a national and global scale. I knew of his reknown in wetland circles when to my surprise he cold-called me in 1983 expressing admiration for a government report I’d just published and which I assumed only a few would notice since I was an unknown scientist back then, working in a small town on the Maine Coast. His subsequent sharing with other wetlands people his enthusiasm for my work (which later became the WET and WESP function assessment methods) definitely jump-started my career. And it began a long friendship and led to many times together, both formal and informal, over the decades. When I suffered a near-death event a week before I was to present at one of his symposia in 1986, he sent a card of concern signed by many who attended. That, as much as his immense achievements, is what I remember him for.