Rosalind Yanishevsky, 61

Rosalind passed away June 6, 2010, following a valiant five-year battle with breast cancer. To the end, she kept hoping for a miracle; in the end, it was she who was the miracle. Rosalind was born Jan. 31, 1949. She first came to Boulder, Colo., in 1975 for a post-doctoral position at the University of Colorado, in the Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology. There she conducted research with Gretchen Stein on cell-aging, for the purpose of furthering our understanding of the biology of cancer cells. After five years, Rosalind left her well-established and promising career in cellular biology to follow her childhood dream to become a wildlife biologist. Rosalind eventually settled in a cabin up Moose Creek, in the North Fork area, adjacent to Glacier National Park, where she lived and worked for over a decade. She taught classes on wildlife for Glacier National Park. She conducted research on various aspects of the local ecosystem, and eventually took the position as director of old-growth forests of the Northwest for Audubon. During her time in Montana she consulted for a number of environmental groups and won a landmark appeal of the Flathead Forest Plan which forever changed the Forest Service s treatment of old-growth, fish, grizzly bears, and road densities in Northwest Montana and beyond. In the mid- 90s, Rosalind returned to Boulder for several years with her beloved Samoyed, Kachina. There she wrote a compendium of the natural history of birds of Colorado for the Division of Wildlife. After several years, she returned to Massachusetts to be closer to her mother, who was then ailing. Eventually she settled in Colrain, Mass., with David Tasgal, where she spent her last 12 years, teaching and studying wildlife biology. Wherever Rosalind lived, she danced. Dancing was her other love, second only to her compassion for nature and all living things. In championing the preservation of wilderness, she was ever-determined and stalwart. When dancing, the weight of the world was momentarily lifted, and her heart became light. Although she will be dearly missed by those who love her, her memory will inspire us to carry on, caring for all things wild, and celebrating in dance and song. We, her friends, are grateful for the miracle of her life.