Daniel W.
Coble, 79, Stevens Point, a professor emeritus at the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP), died Thursday, April 14, 2016, of melanoma in
Stevens Point. He was under the care of the Ministry Hospice team and the
Ministry Oncology Department.

A
memorial service will be held in the summer.

Donations
may be made to one of the many humanitarian, charitable or environmental
organizations he supported, such as Doctors without Borders, the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Easter Seals, 1000
Friends of Wisconsin or the Nature Conservancy.

Boston
Funeral Home assisted with arrangements. Condolences may be offered
online at www.bostonfuneral.net.

Mr. Coble
was born July 8, 1936, in Anderson, Ind., a son of the late Clyde R. and
Mildred (Wiggin) Coble.

From an early age, Dan was interested in all
things biological, especially fish, streams and lakes.

He graduated
from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife
management, Oregon State University with a Master of Science degree in fisheries
and the University of Toronto with a doctorate in zoology with a major in
ecology and minors in physiology and biochemistry.

He was a research
scientist working on fishes of lakes Huron and Ontario for the Ontario
Department of Lands and Forests before returning to the United States to take
the position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of assistant unit leader
of the Missouri Cooperative Fishery Research Unit and associate professor at
the University of Missouri.

In 1971
he became the first unit leader of the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research
Unit and professor of natural resources at UWSP. In that position he mentored
about 75 graduate students, wrote some 50 scientific publications, served as
associate editor of two scientific publications of the American Fisheries
Society and evaluated and edited countless manuscripts for scientific
organizations, colleagues, and students.

He was a
lifetime member of the American Fisheries Society, was elected president of the
North Central Division and of the History Section of the Society as well as
serving in various other offices in it. He retired in 1997.

He was
married to Shannon Smith of Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1961. They moved to the
United States six years later and were divorced in 1985.

He sang
with the Stevens Point Barbershoppers and appeared in two local productions of
“The Music Man,” singing bass with the men’s quartet.

In retirement
he was active in the Portage County Senior Center. In the Retired Senior
Volunteer Program (RSVP), he volunteered in several of its Community,
Legal/Justice System, Aging and Disabilities, and Health and Nutrition
programs. He was also part of the Wisconsin Lions Club eyeglass missions to
Mexico and Nicaragua.

He was a
life member of the Portage County Historical Society.

Survivors
include his children, Jennifer Coble, Seattle, Wash., Sarah (Pat) Klish,
Stevens Point, Abigail (Kurt) Hoehne, Seattle, Wash., and Patrick and Emily
Coble, Victoria, British Columbia; one sister, Sallie (Ted) Lacey, Anderson;
eight grandchildren; and his “raison d’etre” (reason to be), Marcy Kirsch, Stevens Point.