Chronicler of Adirondack-North Country outdoors, Dennis Aprill, passes
I was shocked and dismayed this morning to read on the Plattsburgh Press-Republican‘s website that Dennis Aprill passed away on Saturday, after a battle with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.
Dennis’s writing in the P-R captured hundreds (thousands?) of tales of the sportsman’s life in the North Country. His fishing guidebook has been a staple on my shelf for a decade.
I used him often as a resource and an expert on stories that I was attempting to cover with my amateur’s eye.
To get a sense for Dennis’s passion and energy, check out this conversation between Dennis and our own Todd Moe about trout fishing from 2005, or this 2006 feature where the pair of them went on a winter walk in the woods near Union Falls.
This from the Press-Republican remembrance:
The North Country has lost a great friend with the passing of Dennis Aprill,” said William H. Wellman, Region 5 vice president for the New York State Council of Trout Unlimited.
“Many of us love the outdoors but few of us can express it the way Dennis did.”
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A terrible loss. Loved his columns.
I am shocked and saddened to hear this. I was only a very slight acquaintance of Dennis’s but I read his columns – there was always something of value in each one, even if the subject matter wasn’t quite what I was interested in. Many years ago (early 90s) when I was a stringer with the Plattsburgh Press Republican covering the Adirondacks as a photographer, I crossed paths with Dennis on a few occasions. I’d be shooting something he was writing about for the PR and it was fun to coordinate with him on it. He was always friendly and open and approachable… and VERY enthusiastic about whatever it was he was covering which was, of course, always some outdoor thing. We, have lost a great chronicler of these great woods and waters and mountains of the North Country.
I had read Dennis’ columns for years but didn’t meet him until I was pumping gas at a station in wife’s former hometown of Grimshaw, Alberta, a six-hour drive northwest of Edmonton, and this guy on the other side of the pump asked me whether you pay for gas here the way you do in New York. I asked him where in New York he was from, and he said upstate, a really little town, you wouldn’t know it. I said “Try me” and that I was from upstate, too. He said Black Brook. I said Saranac Lake. He introduced himself, and I said, “I know your columns well” and told him I work for the Enterprise. He knew who I was, too, and we had this big old weird powwow there at the pumps. He was on his way to the Northwest Territories to do a pike fishing story for a magazine. We were heading out of town after visiting my wife’s parents. He wrote about it for the P-R. Later I talked to his journalism class at Plattsburgh State University. Great guy, Dennis – I would’ve loved to shoot the breeze with him again. I was shocked when I read about his death in yesterday’s P-R.
What a loss for all of us. Dennis was not only a wealth of knowledge about the outdoors and Adirondacks, but had the wonderful ability to make his columns and stories interesting to everyone, not just the avid sportsman. I had the pleasure of working with him on several occasions over the years, and loved his enthusiasm and sense of humor. It was a treat to run into him, because he would always have an interesting tidbit or anecdote to share. I’ll miss his wry wit, which he would always deliver with a huge smile.