LIVINGSTON MANOR - Ed Van Put, renowned fly fisherman and conservationist, passed away on December 14 of last year.

Family and friends gathered in Roscoe, the birthplace of American Fly Fishing, to bid him farewell, with such legends as Joan Wulff in attendance.

Van Put was renowned for his prowess with a fly rod, becoming an expert teacher, fisherman and conservationist, who was responsible for securing 54 miles of Public Fishing Rights access in the region while he worked for the New York State DEC.

Newspapers, magazines and media outlets throughout New York and beyond picked up on Van Put’s passing with glowing articles about him and his wife, Judy, and his accomplishments.

On January 10, The New York Times ran a 1/3 of a page obituary on Ed Van Put, talking about how he welcomed President Jimmy Carter to the Sullivan Catskills in the 1980s for a fly fishing trip as well as his prowess of catching fish, extolling how he once caught 37 trout on a single fly.

The New York Times also quoted the January 3 Sullivan County Democrat editorial about Van Put and Carter, namely, “Carter wished to one day return to the area and his newfound fishing buddies for “just a fishing trip,” an editorial in the Sullivan County Democrat noted this week. “It might make one sad to know that the trip never came to pass.”

Van Put’s widow, Judy, wrote, “I just wanted to let you know that the NYTimes is carrying Ed’s obituary in today’s paper (and also online), and they made reference to your wonderful editorial! As you know, readers from all over the world will see it - in fact our son Lee just texted me to say he just got a text message from his friend in Bratislava who just read it in the paper there. 

“Thank you again for such a beautiful column.”

Actually, thank you Judy, for sharing Ed with all of us for so many years.