A Columbia man hiking in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York was found dead Thursday by three female hikers after he suffered an apparent heart attack.

Finger

Terry Finger, 59, who was retired from working as the environmental policy analyst for the Missouri House of Representatives, was visiting the area and his mother, Shirley, 84, who had fallen ill.

His wife of 29 years, Susan Finger, said he had a history of heart trouble but had been clear of any problems for five years. She said he had hiked the strenuous trail on Hunter Mountain near Tannersville, N.Y., "a million times."

"He was - if it had to happen - where he wanted to be," Susan Finger said. "It’s a beautiful place, and he certainly loved the area."

According to a news report from the region, Finger was found near a wooded area in rough terrain off the trail, about three miles from the main road, where he had parked his car. The report said the Pecoy Notch Trail where he was found is among the most difficult in the region.

New York state forest rangers, Greene County sheriff’s deputies, local police and a rescue squad tried to recover the body but had trouble in the rough terrain.

They called in a New York State Police Department helicopter to remove Finger’s body. It is believed he was on the trail overnight because his name appears in a hiker registry book with the previous day’s date. Susan Finger said there are no indications of foul play.

Terry Finger came to Columbia in 1980. He had previously taught in the Fisheries and Wildlife Department at the University of Missouri and at Westminster College.

David Galat, a fisheries and wildlife colleague who also went to school with Finger at Oregon State University, called him the consummate naturalist. "He knew fishes and flowers and birds and everything else," Galat said. "He was interested in anything that was alive, and he was a very good observer of nature."

"In Jeff City, he was still an educator, but he basically educated the legislators. But he wasn’t a rabid environmentalist. He was a scientist, and he presented objective information," Galat said. "He would present them with all sides of it. He may have been a tree-hugger personally, but professionally, he was a scientist."

Susan Finger said memorials for her husband can be made to a group dedicated to protecting the creek where he caught his first trout at the age of 8.

An obituary for Terry Finger appears here.

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