John B. Bazuin Jr. died unexpectedly of pneumonia at his residence in Annandale, Va., in late January 2016. He was 68.
Born on Aug. 20, 1947, in Washington, D.C., John was the only son of the late John B. Bazuin Sr. and Sybil Woodward Bazuin of Onemo, Va., and grew up in Great Falls, Va.
He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Biology from the University of Virginia in 1969 and 1976, respectively, and spent most of his career as a pesticide action reviewer with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs, from which he retired in 2010. Prior to his employment at the EPA, he served as a physical science aide with the U.S. Public Health Service in Savannah, Ga.; was a field biologist with the Urban Wildlife Research Center in Ellicott City, Md.; and was employed by Raven Systems and Research in Washington, D.C., which deployed him as an observer on longline Japanese tuna boats to monitor compliance, record catch totals, and document sightings of marine mammals and turtles.
John was a past president of the Virginia Society of Ornithology and was a member of the Audubon Naturalist Society, the Virginia Native Plant Society, the Virginia Herpetological Society, the Hawk Migration Association of North America, the Virginia Natural History Society, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, and the Color Bearers of the Civil War Trust. His volunteer work included surface-surveying prehistoric Native American archaeology on Lowes Island in northeast Loudoun County, Va., and in the Green Springs National Historic District of western Louisa County, Va. He performed archaeological excavation work at the Button site on the Nature Conservancy’s Fraser Preserve in northwestern Fairfax County, Va., served as Steward of the Bethel Beach Natural Area Preserve in Mathews County, Va., led numerous field trips, and participated in annual bird counts in central and eastern Virginia. His articles were both published and cited.
He is survived by his sisters, Anne B. DePalma of Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Jane H. Ruppe of Harrisonburg, Va.; his nieces, Emily B. Webster of Springfield, Va., Mary A. Bateson of Henrico, Va., and Margaret S. Bateson of Richmond, Va.; his great-nieces, Layla Bateson and Sophie Webster, and his great-nephew, Jacob Webster.
A private interment in the Bazuin family plot at Christ Church, Kingston Episcopal Parish, in Mathews County, will be held at a later date.
Donations in John’s memory may be made to the Civil War Trust or the Virginia Native Plant Society.