RIP Rick Staub

[Scott Waters]

I’m not very good at….words. Especially with things like the passing of a great friend. I’ll just say Rick was a wonderful human being and a dear friend. A guy you could always count on, no matter what. His herpetological knowledge taught me something every time we chatted. The field herping trips we went on were always a blast, most of which were at his Zonata study site. Thank you Rick. You will be missed. Rest in peace.

Here is what Gerold Merker shared about Rick…..

The herpetological community lost another great one today. Rick Staub passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack last week. Rick was one of the kindest people I ever knew. He would give the shirt off his back to help you. I first met Rick over 35 years ago when he came over to my house to look at my reptile collection. At the time, he was attending the University of California at Davis where he would eventually receive his undergraduate degree. He would go on to get his graduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley. Rick would go on to become a research chemist at Zeneca Agrochemicals and the FMC Corp. His final position before retiring was as Director Analytical Chemistry at Pacific BioLabs, Inc. We would eventually travel to various regions in California and Arizona in pursuit of reptiles, especially snakes. A lot of these trips involved camping. I, in true form, would usually forget important items (like food) and Rick was always happy to share what he had brought. Rick became very interested in California Mountain Kingsnakes in the mid-1990’s and would eventually have a study site where he marked over 100 of these snakes over 20 years. His study site was truly a magical place and Rick was generous in bringing people to it to observe these beautiful snakes in their natural habitat. Lately, Rick and I would be part of a table at the Sacramento Reptile Show where he would sell exotic plants that he had grown. His lovely wife, Debbie, would always bring her smiling face and lunch to the tablemates: Warren Treacher, David Nielson, David Muth, Sam Bacchini, me and occasionally others. His son, Tyler, and stepsons, Dominic and Derek, would also help their dad at the table during these shows. Rick was truly an eclectic person who had many interests besides reptiles. He was an expert fisherman and had an incredible knowledge of plants, not to mention he was a Chemist. So here’s to my wonderful friend, Rick Staub, and may more of us live by your example.