Dr. Craig MacPhee, 93

Dr. Craig MacPhee, World War II veteran, former University of Idaho fisheries professor, and longtime Coeur d’Alene resident, died Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, of a stroke. He was 93.

Dr. MacPhee was born to Angus and Mercy KinselMacPhee in November 1918 in San Francisco. Doctors told his parents that young Craig had the Spanish flu and would not survive for long, but he lived and thrived. His family soon moved to Vancouver, B.C., where he was raised and schooled. During high school, he built wooden sailboats and was an ardent fisherman and sea scout. He served as a merchant seaman in the late 1930s.

When Canada entered World War II, Dr. MacPhee volunteered for the Royal Canadian Navy and was commissioned a Sub-Lieutenant, stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He married his sweetheart, Dorothy Seney, who traveled by train, alone, across Canada for the ceremony. Dr. MacPhee was one of the first officers to join HMCS Cornwallis, where he served the rest of the war. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander.

He and Dorothy returned to Vancouver, where they raised three sons: Craig Robert (b. 1944), John (b. 1946) and Glen (b. 1949). Dr. MacPhee finished his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, where he starred on the school’s rugby team. He finished his master’s in zoology in 1949.

Dr. MacPhee and his family moved to Seattle, where he received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He began his professorship career at Eastern Washington University in 1954, then the University of Idaho in 1957. He taught for 28 years, and his research projects included work throughout North Idaho’s rivers and lakes. He helped establish a cooperative fisheries research unit on the UI campus in 1963, one of the first of its kind in the nation. He also participated in fisheries research connected with the Alaska oil pipeline. Dr. MacPhee developed and patented squoxin, a chemical which eradicated pike minnow (squawfish) from Northwest waters.

Dr. MacPhee was academic chairman for the UI Department of Fishery Resources from 1977-79 and served on the UI Faculty Council from 1977-80. He was president of the Idaho Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Idaho Chapter of Sigma Xi. He taught in Taiwan as an exchange professor in 1980. Dr. MacPhee retired from the University of Idaho in 1981.

In retirement, Dr. MacPhee enjoyed fishing, hunting and hiking. He took his last elk at age 83. He was a Life Master duplicate bridge player, and stayed active in tournaments until his death. He taught his family to love all games, from Monopoly to Risk to chess. Dr. MacPhee was a skilled sailor, sail racing his J/24 with his sons on Lake Coeur d’Alene for almost 20 years and winning the Coeur d’Alene Commodore’s Cup, the Great Single Hander and multiple race series. He took delight in his family and in maintaining his private forest land, where he pruned and thinned mature trees and planted new trees. Craig and Dorothy had been spending winters in Yuma, Ariz., and they enjoyed traveling the western U.S. and Canada.

Craig was predeceased by his parents; brother Angus and sister Marjorie. He leaves his wife of 70 years, Dorothy; three sons; (Dr. Craig R. MacPheeand wife, Andrea Sime of Lincoln, Neb.; John MacPhee and wife Carol of Coeur d‘Alene; and Glen MacPhee of Coeur d‘Alene); nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Family suggests memorials to: Craig and Dorothy Seney MacPhee Fisheries Endowment at University of Idaho, P.O. Box 443147, Moscow, ID 83844.

Memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, at English Funeral Chapel, 1133 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene, with burial to follow at Forest Cemetery in Coeur d’Alene.

Please sign Craig’s guest registry and view his online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.