He ‘could make people care.’ Beloved South Carolina naturalist Rudy Mancke dies

Beloved South Carolina naturalist Rudy Mancke, whose statewide television program NatureScene enlightened legions of people through the years about the environment, died Tuesday night after battling liver disease.

Mancke, 78, was surrounded by his family when he passed away, his wife said.

A native of Spartanburg, Mancke was often the go-to person to discuss South Carolina’s wide array of plants and animals.

With an easygoing style and a soft southern drawl, Mancke loved teaching about the natural world.

His wife, Ellen, said Mancke had an interest in nature from an early age. She remembers him leading nature tours for church youth when he was a teenager in Spartanburg.

“He was always a teacher, always teaching,’’ she said. “One of his main talents was being able to speak to a crowd of children through adults, and everybody understood what he was saying.’’

Comments on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, poured out Wednesday as news of Mancke’s death spread. Ellen Mancke said she had answered multiple phone calls from friends and family.

“He was a treasure filled with knowledge and wit,’’ tweeted Andy Shain, a former reporter now with the University of South Carolina.

Patrick Moore, a conservationist with the Open Space Institute, said Mancke’s death is a substantial loss to South Carolina and the country.

“Conservationists all over South Carolina and around the world credit Rudy with their passion for the outdoors,’’ said Moore, a former student of Mancke’s. “He generously loved South Carolina and we are all better off having known him.’’

Mancke was so passionate about nature that he freely gave up his time to talk with people and take groups on walks.

In one instance, Mancke drove from Columbia to Wadmalaw Island south of Charleston to lead a nature walk for a small group of locals, said Dana Beach, who founded the Coastal Conservation League.

Beach said a stroll through the woods with Mancke could take a long time because he knew so much about virtually every plant or animal he encountered. The information Mancke shared with the public helped people understand why it’s important to protect the environment, Beach said.

“He was responsible for opening the eyes of a couple of generations of South Carolinians to the incredible natural heritage in this state,’’ Beach said. “He was able to highlight it, illuminate it and make people care about it.’’

NatureScene, which he hosted with Beryl Dakers and Jim Welch, ran on statewide public television from 1978 to 2002 and was widely regarded for its detailed looks at plants and wildlife in South Carolina.

The show later expanded to feature venues across the country and the world. One of those was a look at how plants and animals had rebounded at Chernobyl, the nuclear plant in Ukraine known as the site of perhaps the world’s worst atomic disaster.

Dakers told The State in a 2002 story that Mancke was intensely curious about nature — so curious that he would sometimes examine road kill.

“Riding in a van with Rudy is like riding in a rolling garbage truck,” she told reporter Joey Holleman. “Not because he’s messy, but because he picks up animals off the road.”

Mancke was at one time natural history curator at the S.C. State Museum, as well as a high school biology and geology teacher, S.C. Public Radio reported. He is a Wofford College graduate, with honorary degrees from the College of Charleston, Winthrop University and Wofford, the radio outlet reported.

Mancke also was the naturalist in residence at the University of South Carolina and founder of the S.C. Native Plant Society. He won numerous awards from conservation organizations, including a Green Tie Award from the Conservation Voters of South Carolina in 2016.

As a naturalist at USC, he often led nature walks on the Horseshoe, the tree-shrouded historic part of the downtown Columbia campus. He also taught classes at Carolina.

“He was the epitome of a scholar dedicated to sharing his love for science and the natural world,’’ said Joel Samuels, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the university.

Recently, Mancke hosted a series of one-minute radio spots on S.C. Public Radio called “Nature Notes.’’ The radio snippets featured quick looks at all kinds of animals and plants. Some recent spots included features on monkey spiders, fig beetles, pollen, black racer snakes, yellow jackets and crab apples.

In an interview with Columbia Metropolitan magazine, Mancke discussed his love of nature from an early age and why it was important.

“I recognize the healing properties of being in nature, especially when the man-made world begins to feel overwhelming,’’ said Mancke, a resident of Cayce.

One passion Mancke had later in life was the time he spent with his grandchildren in the woods. He often took them on nature walks, helping them to learn “a little bit more about nature than they might have otherwise,’’ Ellen Mancke said.

He died after being hospitalized last week. Mancke had been having health problems since a liver disease, known as cryptogenic non-alcoholic cirrhosis, was discovered in July, Ellen Mancke said.

He is survived by his wife, two children and five grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later, Ellen Mancke said.

This story has been updated