Remembering Erik Alexander

Erik Alexander, former curator and educator at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, instructor at Grand Valley State University, and gifted naturalist, died at the age of 52 on April 25 at his home. Erik was married to Grand Rapids filmmaker and Grand Valley professor Deanna Morse.

Alexander was born in Racine, Wis. He graduated from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and earned a master's at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He was the first apprentice of Keewaydinoquay (Margaret Peschel), an herbalist who was then at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He came to Grand Rapids as director of education at the Public Museum, and became a curator there, specializing in Native American culture and natural history.

At Grand Valley, he taught courses including "The Idea of Nature" and "Plants and People," reflecting the expertise in and passion for the natural world for which he was renowned. Jeffrey Chamberlain, director of the Meijer Honors College, remembered Alexander devotion to active learning.

"He came to me excitedly over and over about ideas he had to get the students actually working with plants, rather than just sitting in a classroom reading books and looking at images and data," Chamberlain said. "He had students make rope, work with wood, and many other things. He also got the students thinking about sustainable landscaping by using the campus as a text. It was refreshing to see that kind of active, engaged learning. In fact, I still have in my office a spider plant he gave me at the end of the course because he had been illustrating something with them. I guess it's now something of a memorial to Erik."

In addition to his wife, Alexander is survived by three brothers: George (Sandy) of Wisconsin; Scott (Collins Mikesell) of Washington D.C.; and Glen (Ara Taylor) of Washington state.

A memorial service will be held at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids on Friday, May 21 at 2 p.m. Memorial gifts may be made to the Dirk Koning Film & Video Scholarship Fund at Grand Valley (a fund created by Alexander and Morse) or to Wild Ones Native Plants and Natural Landscapes (www.for-wild.org).