David Lovell

David L. Lovell, of Madison, age 67, passed away January 8, 2025.  David was born on July 21, 1957, in Madison, WI., the son of Hugh Lovell and Helene Rossing Lovell. He graduated from Memorial High School, Madison, in 1974, and received a BS, and then his Masters Degree in Botany and Land Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1985.

As an undergraduate and a graduate student, he worked on several botanical and zoological research projects for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon State, the Smokey Mountains, Virginia, Madison Parks Department as a park ranger, and in Belize with the Belize Audubon Society.  He enhanced his knowledge of plants, birds and wildlife by this experience.  In Belize, he also helped with a Howler monkey conservation project that the organization did with the New York Zoological Society. 

He always enjoyed being outdoors, hiking, canoeing, and working in his yard, planting Wisconsin native plants in his yard.  He was very good at identifying plants, birds, and fish, edifying those with him on his walks.  He was particularly fond of being in Vilas County at his cousin’s cabin on a lake.  He made and marked multiple hiking paths around the lakes there and wrote and published a “Guide to Hiking and Canoeing at Plummer Lake” for those using the cabin. 

In his professional life, David worked for the State of Wisconsin Legislative Council from 1985 to his retirement, as a legislative policy analyst, working directly with State Legislators on multiple committees, doing research and drafting legislation for the legislators.  He found this work deeply satisfying and over the years earned many accolades and positive reviews from supervisors and legislators.   He learned a great deal about how governments function, and used his knowledge and skill in his volunteer work.

He joined the National Council of State Legislatures and the US State Department Democracy Development Project and worked with governments in Mali, Madagascar, Burkino Faso, and Haiti, traveling to each country to offer his experiences, mostly in French, being the official language in those countries.

He also learned how to chair a meeting and was very good at it.  He became a board member at Folklore Village, Dodgeville, a folk arts center near Dodgeville, for five years, chairing the board for three of those years during a pivotal point in the organization’s history, including the organization’s major transitions of settling into a new facility, hiring its first Executive Director, and saying farewell to founder Jane Farwell in her final years. In the 1980s David served on a special committee - the “Cornerstone Campaign” to raise funds for the construction and furnishing of Folklore Village’s new Farwell Hall.  Most recently, with Dan Wallace, he worked on the restoration of the 40-acre Folklore Village Prairie, including installing bluebird houses he built for the site. 

In 2000 he joined the board of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras for several years, and was president of the board for two plus years.  This was fitting volunteer work since David had been a student with WYSO for many years. 

David had a strong interest in orchestral music, opera and Scandinavian folk music.  As a violist he performed two concertos with his high school orchestra, played with the UW symphony orchestra and sang in the UW Concert Choir under the direction of Dr. Robert Fountain.  At Folklore Village, he played with other musicians playing Scandinavian folk music, Czech polkas, and other dances.  He was also quite witty, frequently quoting limericks and poems and composing some himself, to our amusement especially at dinner time.  He also liked being a pastry chef making desserts and cakes for family and friends, and inventing martini recipes for all.  He will be missed by his friends and family.

He is survived by his wife, Irene Wren; his brother, John Scott (Hope Rice); niece and nephew, and many cousins.

Online condolences and memories may be sent to wrenlaw@tds.net.