Thomasville native Leon Neel passed away on May 13, 2019. The son of Nelle Howell Neel and Wallace Heard Neel, Leon was born in Miami, Florida on March 20, 1927. He was a husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and renowned conservationist, with many accolades praising the work he did here in the Red Hills region.
Leon married Hazel Julia Greene in 1948 and graduated from the University of Georgia forestry school in 1950. He returned to southwest Georgia after graduation and soon began working for Herbert Stoddard, one of the founding members of the modern discipline of wildlife biology, mostly known for his study of bobwhite quail.
Together, Stoddard and Neel refined a system of forest management based on ecological principles that integrated wildlife, timber, prescribed fire, aesthetics and conservation. At one time, Stoddard and Neel managed approximately 300,000 acres of longleaf pine forests in the premier quail plantations of South Georgia and North Florida. Today, these lands represent some of the best remaining examples of the longleaf pine ecosystem that have become synonymous with the Red Hills region.
Leon received the Florida Conservationist of the Year award in 1995, the Georgia Conservationist of the Year award in 2001, and in 2009 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Leon was also a co-founder of Tall Timbers Research Station in 1958 and also served on the Board of Directors for the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway in Newton, Georgia.
Leon was a forester and a self-proclaimed tree-hugger. He had a heart for all of God’s creatures big – like gopher tortoise big – and small, like a nest of baby fox squirrels. His appreciation for nature was not limited to land – he loved fly fishing and saltwater sports and was a founding member of the Beachton Yacht Club, in which he served as the first Vice Commodore. He loved things he could see obviously, like birdwatching from his favorite birdwatching chair, next to his favorite birdwatching girl. He loved things equally obscure, like collecting the Hairstreak butterfly, and today his collection can be viewed at the Carnegie Museum in Philadelphia. But what he loved most was joking with his family and educating them on the land and how to take care of her.
Leon is survived by his wife of 70 years, Julia Neel, and his two daughters and their spouses, Julie Neel Horne & Don Horne of Tallahassee, and Susie Neel Campbell & Terry Campbell of Panama City; and grandchildren and their spouses, Holli Maddox, Neel and Keri Campbell, Clay and Callie Sewell, and Eliza Horne; and great grandchildren Landon Campbell, Bennett Campbell, Kenley Maddox, Lainey Maddox, and Trip Sewell.
In lieu of flowers, donations to his memory may be made to the Hospice of Southwest Georgia, 114 A Mimosa Drive, Thomasville, Georgia 31792.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Leon Neel, please visit our flower store.
Leon married Hazel Julia Greene in 1948 and graduated from the University of Georgia forestry school in 1950. He returned to southwest Georgia after graduation and soon began working for Herbert Stoddard, one of the founding members of the modern discipline of wildlife biology, mostly known for his study of bobwhite quail.
Together, Stoddard and Neel refined a system of forest management based on ecological principles that integrated wildlife, timber, prescribed fire, aesthetics and conservation. At one time, Stoddard and Neel managed approximately 300,000 acres of longleaf pine forests in the premier quail plantations of South Georgia and North Florida. Today, these lands represent some of the best remaining examples of the longleaf pine ecosystem that have become synonymous with the Red Hills region.
Leon received the Florida Conservationist of the Year award in 1995, the Georgia Conservationist of the Year award in 2001, and in 2009 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Leon was also a co-founder of Tall Timbers Research Station in 1958 and also served on the Board of Directors for the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway in Newton, Georgia.
Leon was a forester and a self-proclaimed tree-hugger. He had a heart for all of God’s creatures big – like gopher tortoise big – and small, like a nest of baby fox squirrels. His appreciation for nature was not limited to land – he loved fly fishing and saltwater sports and was a founding member of the Beachton Yacht Club, in which he served as the first Vice Commodore. He loved things he could see obviously, like birdwatching from his favorite birdwatching chair, next to his favorite birdwatching girl. He loved things equally obscure, like collecting the Hairstreak butterfly, and today his collection can be viewed at the Carnegie Museum in Philadelphia. But what he loved most was joking with his family and educating them on the land and how to take care of her.
Leon is survived by his wife of 70 years, Julia Neel, and his two daughters and their spouses, Julie Neel Horne & Don Horne of Tallahassee, and Susie Neel Campbell & Terry Campbell of Panama City; and grandchildren and their spouses, Holli Maddox, Neel and Keri Campbell, Clay and Callie Sewell, and Eliza Horne; and great grandchildren Landon Campbell, Bennett Campbell, Kenley Maddox, Lainey Maddox, and Trip Sewell.
In lieu of flowers, donations to his memory may be made to the Hospice of Southwest Georgia, 114 A Mimosa Drive, Thomasville, Georgia 31792.
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