He seemed to fill the stage all by himself, but when he spoke it was with quiet, calm authoritative conviction. This was the first time I saw George Fuge – standing on the Cortland High School auditorium stage in 1967 proposing with other outdoor educators the creation of a statewide outdoor education organization. I can’t now remember a word he said, but I knew that my travel to Cortland from a small Westchester County nature center was worth the trip. Joining with educator peers from all across the state to explore this wonderful new idea, we knew we wanted to follow and be inspired by this giant of a man.
The New York State Outdoor Education Association now in its 42th year testifies to his organizational skills and leadership all imparted with a warm smile. George would become its first President and the second recipient of the Harlan Gold Metcalf Award, the organization’s most prestigious. Professor Metcalf, who had rediscovered the abandoned Pine Knot camp on Raquette Lake that he helped acquire for Cortland College, was the first. At Board Meetings at Raquette Lake where George had been Director since 1962, his evenhanded leadership continued to inspire.
Years passed and in 1985, fellow educators and I from NYSDEC became staff at the Teachers Ecology Workshop hosted at Raquette Lake’s Antlers Camp, and conducted with the NYS Conservation Council by DEC staff. (TEW is now sponsored by NYSOEA.) George was always on hand to make it all run smoothly until his retirement in 1984. He was still there for us, however.
George and his wife Marguerite (Mugsy to everyone) lived in a modest house furnished with his own hand-crafted Adirondack furnishings right next door to Antlers Lodge classroom and dining room overlooking the lake. The highlight of our week’s stay was to pay a visit to them. Our conversations were more about us than him. He always seemed more interested in hearing about and encouraging what we were doing as staff of the Workshop, our DEC jobs and our individual outdoor pursuits. The father of NYSOEA had become a father figure to us, as well.
We learned in conversations with this soft spoken man over the years a little of his backstory printed below for those NYSOEAers who never knew George. Because of his prevailing modesty, some of these details we didn’t learn until after his passing at age 85 on November 8, 2009. A memorial service will be held for George at Old Forge in December.
Always an outdoorsman, George Fuge had been a ski trooper during World War II with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy and Austria. Back home he became a respected winning coach earning the Rockland County Coach of the Year award for football and wrestling. Beginning in 1962, George worked closely with professors, classroom teachers and student educators who learned and taught outdoors in his position as the Director of the College at Cortland’s Outdoor Education Center at Raquette Lake. Several of the state colleges had resident campuses for their education and recreation students to learn and practice their skills outdoors, and George wanted to bring them all together in a common mission with state, county, municipal and private outdoor facilities and programs. He certainly had credentials for this role as an avid sportsman and leader of the NYS Conservation Council. George had also been a leading participant of a Governor’s Taskforce on the Future of Outdoor Education in New York State. He would go on to become President of the National Council on Outdoor Education, and advisor back home to the State Education and Conservation Departments. George Fuge is still a giant of a man.
