COLUMBIA, S.C. — A renowned naturalist, public television host and USC fixture in South Carolina died around this time last year. His name was Rudy Mancke.
This Sunday, one day before his birthday, natural scientists, family and friends from across the state and even other parts of the country came to honor Mancke at the USC Arboretum.
Rudy Mancke was one of a kind, a genius, world-renowned. All things family, friends and colleagues said about him and his work as a master naturalist.
Sunday afternoon people of all ages and generations gathered to remember the man who meant so much to so many at the W. Gordon Belser Arboretum.
Now stands a physical reminder of his impact: A swamp chestnut oak tree that's dedicated to Rudy.
"He knew what everything was. It was like nature talked to him," said Arlene Marturano, USC colleague of Rudy's, director of the South Carolina Garden-Based Learning Network.
"Rudy was rare in the fact that he could start a conversation with anyone and then connect them immediately to an insect, a snake that was in front of him. He was the rare expert who also had a personality," said Josh Arrants, Rudy's mentee, a naturalist.
Rudy Mancke's colleagues and mentees said they learned so much from him like how to engage people with nature, how to be kind, and how to be amazed by everything.
"The community aspect of grieving is one of the things that brings some sweetness to the sorrow. So it's wonderful to meet so many other people who loved Rudy and were impacted by him and to hear their stories, because you realize you're not alone in missing him and grieving this loss and there are a lot of us to carry on his memory and his legacy," said Chanda Cooper, Rudy's mentee, with the SC Department of Environmental Services.
Rudy's youngest brother Tom said one thing he's learned from his sibling is overcoming the fear of differences, and realizing that at the root of it, natural science, nature, and humans, we're all connected to each other.
"Every day for Rudy the game was afoot if we can talk about Sherlock Holmes stories. And for those of us, his followers, that was true too. We would be following Rudy, going out and trying to imagine what the world look like and be like through the sensibilities of other creatures," Tom Mancke said.
If you'd like to visit the tree dedicated to Rudy Mancke, the USC Arboretum hosts monthly open houses the third Sunday of every month from 1 to 4 p.m. and it's open Wednesday mornings 10 to noon, Thursday evenings 3 p.m. to dusk and most Saturday mornings from 10 to noon.