Theodore Gordon Flyfishers is a not for profit angling organization, founded on American fly-fishing
traditions, promoting stream and river protection and self-sustainable salmonid populations through
conservation, environmental oversight, activism, catch-and-release practices, and education.

Committee Members

• Karen Kaplan – Chair
• David Kramer – Director
• Sara Low – Director
• Terry McCartney
• Shannon Brightman, PhD
• Ex Officio - Bert Darrow, President

In 2005 the Board of Directors of TGF approved a fund from which TGF could provide scholarships to outstanding students of the environmental sciences in the New York area. The TGF Founders Fund carries the 21 names of the 1963 charter members of TGF. The program currently offers an annual academic merit scholarship of $3,500 to an exceptional student in an environmental program of study such as, but not limited to, cold water fisheries management, environmental law, fishery conservation, aquatic biology.

From it’s beginning, the Founders Fund has partnered with the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges & Universities to help tap the best and the brightest students in the region. Founded in 2004, the Consortium is comprised of fifty-three colleges and universities in the Hudson Valley region. Its mission is to help shape the future of the regional and global environment through collusion, education, and research.

Elizabeth Murphy has been selected as the 2012 TGF Founders Fund Scholar. She is currently earning her Masters of Science degree in Climate Science and Policy at Bard College Center for Environmental Policy and intends to applay to Bard’s new M.B.A. program in Sustainability. After graduating from Vassar College, Elizabeth was awarded the highly prestigious Compton Mentor Fellowship, one of only 10 awarded nationally, to study the resource and policy aspects of tidal power. Elizabeth also serves on the Town of New Paltz’s Environmental Conservation Board, which is attempting to reduce pollution and runoff on the Wallkill River and improve the wastewater treatment facility there. Ultimately, Elizabeth aspires to create her own business in the Hudson Valley, which will affect positive exchange between business and the field of clean energy technology and environmental sustainability.

Past Scholars

Founders Fund Society**

In 2010, TGF launched the Founders Fund Society to create an endowment for the Founders Fund in an effort to protect and sustain the scholarships in the years ahead.

Founding Patrons

• Bert Darrow
• Kathryn L. Heavey
• Donal O'Brien
• Ted Rogowski
• Stewart Salenger Foundation

Patrons

• Terry Brykczynski
• Bert Darrow

Sustainers

• Stanley Bryer
• Karen Kaplan
• David Kramer
• David Sgorbati

Supporters

• Shannon Brightman
• Bruce Jabbonsky
• Liberty Maintenance
• Richard Stebbins

Members

• John Adams
• David Berman
• James H. Cloud
• John L. Field
• Joel Filner
• Charles Flickinger
• Jacquie Gordon
• John Happersett
• Diana Jacobs Kalman
• Sara Low
• Mark Schiff
• Arthur Stoliar

*list in formation

Founders Fund Society Honorees

The Theodore Gordon Flyfishers Founders Award is presented to an individual whose excellence in and outstanding dedication to environmental conservation serve as a model for future generations. For his pioneering environmental litigation with special attention to river conservation, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers honored Stanley Bryer in 2012.