TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Hobson Bryan, 80, of Tuscaloosa, a former vice president of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame Board of Directors, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2022, at Hospice of West Alabama, after a long illness.

Bryan was a leader and key proponent of efforts to establish the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame Museum at the Wonders of Wildlife Museum and National Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. A lifelong conservationist and educator, Bryan envisioned the museum as a vehicle for educating young people about the importance of aquatic resources and wise fisheries management.

He also contributed to the growth of professional bass fishing through his research on the economic impact of B.A.S.S. tournaments on tourism and related businesses in host communities. His data and formulas for calculating the economic benefits of bass fishing are said to be still in use today.

An accomplished bass angler, Bryan competed in 100 Bassmaster tournaments in the 1980s and ’90s, and he won several local and national tournaments in his career.

He was born Colgan Hobson Bryan Jr. in Roanoke, Virginia, on June 3, 1942. He graduated from Tuscaloosa High School and earned a BA degree from Vanderbilt University. He wrote his PhD thesis on rural poverty in the Mississippi Delta, earning his doctorate degree from Louisiana State University at age 25.

He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and later worked at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington DC. He held various positions in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including stints at the U.S. Forest Service. He returned to Tuscaloosa in 1970 and began a career as professor at the University of Alabama that spanned 44 years and included two terms as chairman of the Department of Sociology.

Bryan earned global recognition for his book, Conflict in the Great Outdoors, published in 1979. He was widely respected as an innovative scholar for his contributions across multiple disciplines, including public access, clean water, ecotourism, and social and environmental impact assessment.

He traveled widely, consulting for key projects such as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China, for the International Monetary Fund and on the Yucca Mountain repository for nuclear waste in Nevada. He was elected president of the International Association for Impact Assessment, a professional group with members in 110 countries.

Bryan is survived by his wife, Terri Gramling Bryan; his children, Sara Bryan Pasquier of Paris, France, and Colgan Hobson Bryan III (Ellen) of Denver, Co.; his grandchildren, Flora and Theodore Pasquier; and his step-children, Will Nielsen (Victoria) and Ashley Streeter (Ricky). He was predeceased by his parents, Colgan Hobson Bryan and Sara Tuberville Bryan, and his late wife, Karen LaMoreaux Bryan.

A Celebration of Life service will be held for him this fall at Christ Episcopal Church of Tuscaloosa, of which he was a life-long member. As an ardent supporter of clean Alabama river systems, friends may honor Hobson through gifts to the Black Warrior Riverkeeper or the Nature Conservancy of Alabama.