After a long and adventurous life, Lewis Hathaway Nash passed away on Aug. 3, 2024, in Ashland, Oregon, at the age of 92. Known for his playful sense of humor and insatiable curiosity, he was a beloved partner, father, grandfather, brother and uncle.
Born on July 18, 1932, in Berkeley, California, Lew was affectionately nicknamed “Beaver” — a name which he preferred into adulthood. In his younger years, Lew spent summers and winters in the Sierra Nevada. He became an Eagle Scout and a Scoutmaster. He then served in the Army Medical Corps in Germany during the Korean War, graduated from Dartmouth College (1954), and earned an MBA at University of California at Berkeley. After deciding corporate life didn’t suit him, Lew joined the Peace Corps at its beginning in Morocco (1962), became a commercial pilot, and ran special programs for U.C. Berkeley Extension. He was a founding faculty member at the College of the Redwoods, teaching philosophy and world religions.
Lew was a resident of Ferndale, California, for more than 30 years. Active in civic events, he was part of the team who helped build the newly established (1979) Ferndale Museum.
Notably, Lew invented the first home-use otoscope (Earscope) and started a company to manufacture it. Notoco (Nash Otoscope Company) was in business for over 20 years, helping parents with small children monitor ear health at home. Doctors and nurses who traveled the world also used his lightweight, portable otoscope in the field.
In 1996, Lew met Kate Thill while they were snowed in at a ski lodge. The couple moved to Ashland in 1999. Over the next several years, he and Kate traveled to third-world countries to build housing with Habitat for Humanity.
Lew enjoyed athletic activities and the outdoors. He swam for Berkely High, crewed for Dartmouth, cleared trails in his beloved High Sierra, jogged, backpacked, fished and taught cross-country skiing.
Always great with his children and grandchildren, Lew loved telling bedtime stories (featuring the mythical “Sneezing Pirate”), wrestling on the living room floor, creating whimsical breakfast fruit plates and leading them in outdoor adventures.
Flying was one of Lew’s lifelong passions. In addition to private trips, he used his plane to help environmental groups monitor timber operations and water quality in both the Headwaters Forest controversy and the Klamath River water usage dispute in Northern California. By showing the aerial landscape to members of Congress, attorneys, photographers and national media reporters, Lew helped to document abuses and influence national policies.
Lew was a generous man who loved his family and served many local and international communities.
He is preceded in death by his parents, George Norris Nash, Jr. and Sarah Myrtle (Chamberlain) Nash, his siblings, Gordon Nash and Barbara Nash Merriam, and his nephew, Jeffery Merriam.
Lew is survived by his devoted life partner, Kate Thill, his children, Holly Pietrok (Ron) and Noah Nash (Kara), his grandchildren, Max and Lily Pietrok, his brother-in-law, John E. “Duke” Merriam, many nieces and nephews, and his former wife, Carol Bowden, mother of his children.
This article appears in Taco Week 2025.