2005 Alumni Fellow

Posted: June 29, 2009

Edward Frank Kocjancic '54 B.S., Forestry. He was president of Edward F. Kocjancic, Inc., Consulting Foresters, in Kane, Pa. He practiced forestry for 47 years--37 years as a consultant.

Edward F. Kocjancic

Kocjancic demonstrated by example the importance of forest stewardship, sustainability and multiple-use in the management of private forest land as a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified resource manager. To be certified, a corporation must meet the FSC's highest standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically vital way. Kocjancic, Inc., is known world-wide as the ultimate provider of quality veneer logs, as a major supplier of pulpwood and chips to the fiber industry, and as an exceptional manager of small and large forestlands in Pennsylvania and New York.

Kocjancic was a member of the Society of American Foresters, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, the Pennsylvania Hardwood Development Council, and the McKean County Industrial Council. He served on the board of directors for the Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group, the Pennsylvania Forest Industry Association, the McKean County Conservation District, and the Kane Area Industrial Development Council. He also was the Kane, PA, 2002 Citizen of the Year. He received the Mont Alto Centennial Fellow in 2004 and the Outstanding Alumnus from the College of Agricultural Sciences School of Forest Resources in 2002. He served on the School of Forest Resources (SFR) Advisory Board and was a Penn State Armsby Honor Society member.

Kocjancic's Penn State philanthropy honors through the years include the President's Club, the Circle of Pride in the President's Club, the Wall of Honor, and the Mount Nittany Society. He served on the College's Grand Destiny Campaign Committee, was a life member of the Penn State Alumni Association, and was a strong supporter in the funding of the new SFR building project.

Kocjancic and his wife of 43 years, Pat, raised four children, three sons and a daughter. Two of the sons and the daughter are Penn Staters.

We are sad to report that Ed Kocjancic recently passed away. We send our sympathies to his family. He will be missed by all of his Penn State colleagues and friends and we thank him for all he did to give back to the University he loved.