Ronald E. Cole Tribute

The UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology lost a deeply valued colleague, friend, and mentor in Ronald E. Cole, Curator Emeritus, on July 12, 2025.  

Ron had endless energy, curiosity, and a deep joy of living. He was a master storyteller, capable of engaging everyone in his love of museums, wildlife of all types, the outdoors, sports and so much else.   Ron started his career in 1963, when he was hired by the Smithsonian Institution as a field zoologist assigned to the African Mammal Project. He spent the next year collecting mammals in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. In 1965, he and wife Rebecca moved to Davis, where Ron initially worked in the Department of Animal Physiology, conducting research and volunteer teaching museum science.   In 1972, he became the founding curator of the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology (MWFB) in the newly formed Division of Wildlife and Fish Biology (later the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology). Over the next quarter of a century (plus), Ron, along with his student interns, built a dynamic teaching and research museum that far surpassed original visions of a simple teaching collection.  In 2025,  the museum he founded has become a nationally and internationally recognized facility with diverse and dynamic programs and staff.  

Beyond the museum, Ron was always up for new challenges and his contributions were far-reaching and had rippling effects on UC Davis and the broader Davis Community.  In the 1980s and ‘90s, he worked on several conservation projects, co-chairing the planning for the Ledyard Stebbins Cold Canyon Natural Reserve, helping establish the Jepson Prairie Reserve, shaping the Putah Creek Campus Reserve, and serving on the committee that helped create the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area.  He always had a knack for seeing new opportunities that connected to, and advanced the needs of the Museum, the Department, and UC Davis.

Above all, Ron cherished mentoring students, teaching, fieldwork, and leading the museum through “the good years and the lean years.” Of his work, Ron shared: “In the twenty-eight years that I was honored to be the curator of the museum, there was never one day when I wasn’t excited to have my position and when I didn’t look forward to going to work.”   Ron saw it as his mission to get others to understand and become excited about museum specimens and the diversity of wildlife in California and elsewhere. He understood how that core connection between animals and people can enhance and influence students and their learning and help develop them into future conservation biologists and educators.   He was a superb naturalist and was always willing to share his knowledge and passion with students, faculty, and the public alike. Ron’s legacy has several intertwined strands: his commitment to museum collections, his passion for teaching and the needs of students, and maintaining a deep connection within the Davis Community.  These strands lead to a joined passion — the appreciation and conservation of the natural world — for which he felt deeply connected. Ron was 85 years old, and he will be greatly missed by so many.

Learn more about Ron’s Legacy
For more on the history of the Museum and Ron Cole, please visit the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology’s web page  https://mwfb.ucdavis.edu/history .

In Ron’s honor, and with the help of private donors, the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology and College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences established the Ronald E. Cole Endowment for Museum Excellence.  This is a dedicated fund to support museum curation, collections management, and support undergraduate internships in both the lab and field.  Ron requested that anyone wishing to make a donation to  support the fund do so on the link  Ronald E. Cole Endowment for Museum Excellence Fund .