The Wildlife Center of Virginia family has sustained a major loss this week with the death of our beloved Board Chairman Emeritus, Dr. Erwin Bohmfalk, who passed away earlier this week at age 99.
Erwin was one of those figures who is larger than life. With a PhD in Chemistry, he spent his career with the DuPont Corporation. His work with DuPont took him all over the world, and eventually landed him in Waynesboro, VA.
In addition to his professional life, he was a well-known community and civic leader and founder of the first wine-tasting club in the area. His expertise with all things wine led him to establish the Purple Foot, a wine shop in Waynesboro. (At the time of the establishment of the Purple Foot, the Virginia ABC laws prevented the word “wine” from being used in the name of a business, even if the business sold wine!) The shop’s logo features someone stomping grapes to make wine, raising his “purple foot” in the air as he danced around. Eventually, the wine shop grew into Waynesboro’s most popular lunchtime restaurant, until it was forced to close by the pandemic.
It was actually the fact that the Purple Foot had a lovely patio seating area that led Erwin to the Wildlife Center of Virginia in the early 1990s. It seems that every night for about a week, a mother opossum would visit the patio looking for crumbs. In the process, it seems that one of her babies would drop off and get stranded, to be found in the morning when the shop opened. Each morning, Erwin dutifully brought the baby opossum to WCV … one a day … for more than a week. At the end of that time, he was hooked! He quickly became a generous supporter, then a member of our board, then eventually Chair of the Board, a position he held for many years. When he finally stepped down as Chair, the Board bestowed upon him the honorary title of Chairman Emeritus, which he proudly displayed on his WCV business cards.
In addition to his direct work with WCV in Virginia, Erwin worked with WCV President Ed Clark to establish the Center’s African Safari Program. Through this effort, hundreds of people were shown the incredible beauty and wildlife diversity of Southern Africa. A world-class photographer, Erwin led nearly 50 of these photographic safaris for the Center, until he was well into his 90’s. He also accompanied WCV’s staff on various trips throughout Latin America to support our teaching mission, including adventures in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela.
His passion for travel was not limited to his trips with WCV. He was a member of the Explorers Club and had visited every continent on the face of the Earth. He even visited the North Pole aboard a Russian icebreaker!
For more than 30 years, Erwin has been a dear friend to many of us, a strong supporter of the Center, and a trusted colleague. There is so much more to tell about this remarkable man, but that will have to wait. His goal had been to make it to his 100th birthday; he only missed that target by months.
We will miss our friend greatly. We will always remember his generous spirit, kind heart, and winning smile.