Boyd Jensen Shaffer

Oct. 17, 1925-June 25, 2016

Boyd Jensen Shaffer, popular artist and naturalist and one of the longest-tenured instructors at Kenai Peninsula College, succumbed to cancer June 25, 2016, in Seattle. Shaffer was 90.

Shaffer was born Oct. 17, 1925, in Salt Lake City, the third of six children of Martin and Oneta (Jensen) Shaffer. Talented at art and deeply curious about nature at a young age, by age 12 he was a guest lecturer on bird behavior and identification at the University of Utah. In his teens, he led tours for the world-famous Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. He served in the U.S. Army in the European theater and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. In his late 20s, the Walt Disney production company hired him as a naturalist consultant and wildlife expert and trainer on the True-Life Adventures film series.

In 1960, he moved to Alaska and opened a Moose Pass taxidermy shop. Soon he was a full-time foreman for the U.S. Forest Service, and in 1966 he was became one of the first instructors hired by KPC founding director Clayton Brockel. He retired from KPC in 2002.

Shaffer was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Dale, Dean and Gene, and sister Dorothy (Shaffer) Sain.

He is survived by his youngest brother, David; three children from his first marriage, Boyd Shaffer Jr., Andrea Lauren and Kevin Shaffer, all of Anchorage; current wife Susan (Fry) Shaffer; daughter Holly (Shaffer) Csiga and son-in-law Bryan Csiga, all of Seattle, and their children, Misha and Pippa.

Shaffer’s body will be donated to science. No memorial services are planned. Medical cost donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/2bjyknqv.

Shaffer’s family has posted a fuller obituary at www.sha4.net.