When I grow up, I want to be like Jay Lehr in many ways. But I’m realistic enough about my own physical and educational limits to know that’s not likely.

Dr. Jay H. Lehr (September 11, 1936 to January 10, 2023) died Tuesday at age 86. Why would I want to be like him “when I grow up”? Consider this from his obituary:

Jay was known as the “Father of Western Lacrosse.” He was assistant lacrosse coach at The Ohio State University in the ‘60s. He loved playing club lacrosse, hockey, and men’s hardball. He founded the Columbus Metros semi-pro football team. He was an avid skydiver, 10-time Ironman finisher, and multiple marathon finisher. Jay loved watching all sports on tv, splitting firewood, and taking care of his chickens and dogs.

Jay was a proud Princeton alum (class of ’57). He was known throughout the Princeton community for his participation in the Princeton P-rade, where he walked the parade route on his hands for 20 years, then completed the route annually on his unicycle for another 20 years. He was also known for his love of skydiving, having completed 1,481 successful jumps, always with exact precision of hitting his target, “Earth.”

Jay was the most optimistic and energetic person you will ever meet. He always inspired others to reach their highest potential.

Would that I had now the energy Jay showed in his late 80s!

One of the first major books I read on environmental science and policy was Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns (1992), which edited. It’s a fat book (841 pages), loaded with good science and economics by good scientists and economists. I offer you this long list of its topics (usually several chapters each) to illustrate the breadth of his serious interests and study: acid rain, agricultural chemicals, asbestos, biomagnification, biotechnology, cancer/carcinogenesis, DDT, dioxin, electromagnetic fields, environmental economics, environmentalism (what’s real, what’s not), greenhouse/global warming, landfills, media coverage, medicine, nutrition, ozone, population, radiation and nuclear energy, radon, recycling, reverse effects, risk, scientific processes, species and forest reduction, toxicology, wetlands, and wilderness. Jay was always aiming for the most accurate, credible science on any subject while exposing the myths of environmental exaggeration.

He was the first American to receive a Ph.D. in groundwater hydrology (1962), spent 25 years as director of the National Ground Water Association, was actively involved in the federal Environmental Protection Agency in its early years, then a major critic of it as it enlarged its mission, cheapened its science, and became a handmaiden of the radical environmentalist movement. In the last decade or so he championed a movement to abolish the federal EPA and replace it with a joint committee of the environmental protection agencies of the 50 states—a sensible idea if ever there was one.

Jay also spent 25 years as a Senior Scientist for the Heartland Institute and in recent years was Senior Scientist of the International Climate Science Coalition, pursuing his passion of educating others in the truths of climate science and the fallacy of dangerous manmade climate change.

Put simply, Jay Lehr was among the most broadly learned people I’ve known. He was also among the most friendly, jovial, and encouraging. I was looking forward to seeing him next month at the Heartland Institute’s 15^th International Conference on Climate Change, where we both were scheduled to speak. Not only I but also hundreds of other advocates of eco-sanity will miss him dearly.

Photo courtesy of the Heartland Institute.