The Board of Directors of Theodore Gordon Flyfishers deeply mourns the passing of longtime Board member Joan Stoliar.

Joan was the lightening rod and driving force behind TGF's Trout in the Classroom program, which brought an awareness of the importance of a healthy aquatic environment to both N.Y.C. and N.Y. State school children. Her guiding hand and generous heart will be missed by her schools of children and schools of fish. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her husband and champion, Arthur, and the entire Stoliar family.

For those who have not yet heard I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad news in an informal way.
Sunday, June 18, 2000 Ms. Joan Stoliar, passed away after a long bout with cancer in Manhattan with her family by her side. Her passing is listed in the obituaries of today's NY Times and it lists the funeral service for Tuesday, June 20 at 1:15 PM at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76 Street NYC.
It saddens me greatly to think of how much she did for so many and yet how little she could do for her own health. Nineteen students and I shared a beautiful weekend with her in the Catskills exactly one month ago and she was bursting with energy and put on an unforgettable program for the children. It is was a pleasure to know and work with her and she will be sorely missed.
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Our Joan Stoliar passed away on June 18th from ovarian cancer, for which she
had been receiving treatments since 1993, and from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,
diagnosed in 1963. Joan was a member of Federation of Fly Fishers and a
board member of Theodore Gordon Flyfishers ("TGF"), and it was Joan who
introduced us to her conservation endeavors "Project Access" and "Trout in
the Classroom" (TIC).

Amazingly, during all her years of treatments, Joan pursued her successful
graphic design career, run her business of fly fishing products, took care
of grand children, fished and directed two conservation projects. Joan
viewed the world with her passion and care. And she brought the creative
change to the world to be better. She was talented, devoted, creative and
concerned person and her contribution for trout, elderly and disabled fly
fishers, children and trout is so immense. In this year, she received TGF
"Ed Zern Salmo Award", - TGF highest award and kept working so much for
them till her death.

Joan was a very talented book designer. She designed for Richard Bach -
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "Illusions", which was the first book design
to be copyrighted in its entirety - , James Clavell, Johnny Carson and for
so many fly fishing authors, among them was for Eric Leiser - "Deddes" .
She was also one of the publishers.

Joan was the idea women and she formed the small business to sell her
products, most of them are her own inventions - Fly-Tyer's Carry-All - the
first travel bag for the fly tyers, Folstaf and others.

Joan created the wonderful program, "Project Access" which was founded and
directed by her since 1985. This is a voluntary program dedicates to making
prime fishing streams in the Catskills available to anglers who are elderly
or disabled. She maintained an Internet location
http://www.projectaccess.com. Joan was elected Ecohero of the Week by the
Fly Fishing Network on the Internet.

About three years ago, she read an article in the fishing magazine about a
program in which children raised fish eggs in the small aquariums. She
thought this would be a project, which we can apply in New York. She formed
the committee called "Trout in the Classroom" and made it more environmental
educational project.

It was started in four schools (one public school - one subway stop from
Manhattan, the other three public schools - in the Catskills where New York
State reservoirs are). Now it will be in twenty-one schools including along
the Hudson Valley region with about 4,000 eggs. She extended it to give
hundreds of students hands-on knowledge of New York watershed, encourage
exchanging information and connecting between city - country children
through raising trout eggs. She introduced them to the sport of fly fishing
and tying, and made them aware of cold water ecosystems and their
conservation.

Joan directed and led TIC so successfully with her amazing and intense
devotion and creativity. No drop out school in the three years. The
country children stopped throwing the trash away in their rivers and became
proud of their area, where cities' supply water comes from. The TIC
participation encouraged some of students to continue education in
environmental study in the college. The city children got a chance to be in
the country and become aware of watershed system acid rain and pollution.
The children, who are not particularly active in the regular classes, become
positively involved with helping each other. The communication between
urban and country children is very productive. Some teachers are awarded for
their educational success through this program. The benefits of TIC are
endless.

Regardless her doctor's orders, Joan joined with the students in releasing
their beloved trout fry to the stream in the end of May, 2000. She wanted
to make sure that everything went OK. She enjoyed watching it and talking
with children as if they were her children. That day was a sort of TIC
graduation day.

She loved to watch one more thing. It was trout fry. Particularly when the
fry came up to the top to eat the fly immediately after the release.
Watching it with her big eyes open, she could not help smiling. She was
fascinated to see the little fry, which never see the fly, immediately to
went top to eat it.

If you have any questions regarding to TIC, visit
http://www.troutintheclassroom.org or e-mail me at misakofyfish@hotmail.com
or mail me, Misako Ishimura at 94 Yorktown Roscoe, NY 12776, USA.

Misako Ishimura