Roll Call Tribute

David Matthew "Matt" Zuefle 

December 30, 1963 - July 9, 2024 

David Matthew Zuefle, 60, of Charlottesville, Virginia, formerly of McDermott, Ohio, died July 9, 2024 at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville. He was born on December 30, 1963, to the late David Lawrence and Elpha Mae (Keyser) Zuefle. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Mark Ward Zuefle.

Matt was a 1982 graduate of Northwest High School, where he was both an athlete (track and cross country) and captain of the Quiz Bowl team. He was a National Merit Scholar and attended Rio Grande University, then Shawnee State Community College (now Shawnee State University) where he received his Associate’s degree.

Matt had boundless energy and often worked multiple jobs simultaneously, including intermittent farm labor, serving as a youth supervisor with Community Action Organization of Scioto County, and as Program Assistant, then Program Director for the Portsmouth Area YMCA. He was a certified athletic official (basketball, softball, and volleyball) for many years in Ohio, and later in North Carolina. He worked as a sales representative for Valley Wholesale Foods (Portsmouth) and Butler Foods (Maysville, Kentucky).

In 1989, he completed his Bachelor’s degree (Outdoor & Environmental Education) at the University of Toledo, where he concurrently worked with the Boy Scouts of America, Toledo Metroparks, and the Stranahan Arboretum. During this period, he also worked as a Teacher/Naturalist at Woodland Altars Outdoor Education Center (Peebles, Ohio). He continued his studies at Toledo, earning his M.Ed. in Recreation & Outdoor Education in 1992.

In 1990, Matt became a Naturalist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, working over the next seven years at East Harbor State Park, Shawnee State Park, and Burr Oak State Park.

In 1991, Matt received a prestigious Board of Regents’ Fellowship from Texas A&M University, allowing him the freedom to continue his studies with a singular focus. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. in Recreation Resource Development with a doctoral minor in Philosophy (Environmental Ethics).

Matt served on the faculty of several universities, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in his primary field; he also served on the Environmental Studies faculty and Graduate faculty at each institution. Matt touched the lives of countless students during his career at UNC-Greensboro, Ohio University, and the University of Mississippi. He was empathetic and fair, but certainly no pushover; he wanted his students to do well and held them to high standards. Even students who did not achieve good grades regarded him as one of the most excellent professors they’d ever had. Matt was an advocate, advisor, and wise mentor.

Matt was a free spirit and loved the outdoors. After losing his father at a young age, and attributing that to a stressful professional life, Matt found a vocation that was true to his personal philosophy about work and his love for nature and the outdoors. His knowledge and understanding of the natural sciences and social sciences allowed him to work adeptly with professionals in biology, philosophy, sociology, law, business, and the humanities. Matt could converse about almost anything with anybody. He posed ideas and questions most of us never thought about, often leading us to question our own assumptions. And he had the wisdom to admit what he did not know.

Matt’s gregarious personality could fill any room. He liked to hear people’s stories, tell some of his own, and really connect. He liked to wrestle with big ideas.

A sharp wit, Matt could be serious or seriously funny. Boisterously funny. Irreverently funny. He was comfortable in a suit in the faculty lounge and comfortable in hiking boots on the trails at Mount Rogers. He was kind to people he did not know and had a particularly soft spot in his heart for people he thought needed a break, a leg up, or who just seemed not to “have it all.” His friends and acquaintances come from all walks of life.

His love for his southern Ohio home never wavered. He was honored to be the keynote speaker at the 12th Annual Ohio’s Appalachia Conference (The Ohio State University, 2003); to speak at the Jane M.G. Foster Distinguished Lecture Series (Shawnee State University, 2000); and to write about Appalachia and Appalachian Ohio for academic publications and general readership.

Matt wrote several newspaper columns – non-academic writing that satisfied his desire to communicate ideas broadly – most notably in the AthensNEWS (Ohio) and Oxford Town (Mississippi). He would deftly weave ideas into columns that any reader would find accessible, while making very thought-provoking points in a non-confrontational way. He wanted people to think, and think well. In recent years, his writing shifted away from newspapers to his own website entitled “Dispatches From the Ivory Trailer.” We all had a great time waiting on and reading each new essay, usually adorned with his own photography or drawings. In 2022, he took the website down so he could focus on compiling those pieces into a couple of book manuscripts. More recently, he spent his time writing creative non-fiction pieces inspired by his experiences growing up in southern Ohio, many of which have been added to those developing manuscripts. As of now, they remain unpublished.

There is so much more to say about this very special person, but perhaps that is another book to be written. Now our hearts are broken, and it is difficult to convey in words what a great void Matt’s passing creates. Those of us who know him feel lucky to have had his influence on our lives. We will miss him terribly.

Matt was a faithful Christian and was a member and visitor of many different congregations over his lifetime. He is survived by his best friend and loving partner of over 27 years, Laura Phillips, of Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as her extended family (Margaret Phillips of Evanston, Illinois; Jennifer, David, Caitlin and Zoe Greathouse of Overland Park, Kansas; and David Reschke of Des Plaines, Illinois). He is also survived by some very special friends he remained in touch with over the years (Tim Crabtree, Rita Crabtree, Rich Emnett, Randy McClay) and countless other very good friends, family, and colleagues he met and worked with throughout the years.

A celebration of Matt’s life will take place at 1:30 pm on Thursday, July 25 at Pleasant Valley Community of Christ Church in Lucasville with his friend, Daron Lilly, officiating, followed by interment at Scioto Burial Park. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a gift in Matt’s memory to Shawnee State University’s Department of Natural Sciences.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Roger W. Davis Funeral Home in West Portsmouth.