Elizabeth “Liz” Russell Haigh, 60, died at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 6, 2021, after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Liz was born on September 30, 1961, in Glens Falls, New York, the oldest child of Andy Haigh and Pam Russell (Jessup). Her father was a jazz musician and college librarian and her mother an architect and landscape architect. Liz grew up in Massachusetts and was a 1989 graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she designed her own major in American studies and outdoor leadership. She spent her childhood summers on Mt. Desert Island in Maine, a place she loved.
Liz had a deep appreciation for and knowledge of the outdoors and the natural environment. She was a guide for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) as a caretaker for AMC huts, including Tuckerman’s Ravine (1995-1997) on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. She had a lifelong love of animals and owned two horses, numerous cats, and a bearded dragon lizard.
She is survived by her husband John, their son Andy, her mother Pamela Jessup, her brother William Haigh, her uncle William and aunt Beth Russell, and her step sisters Sarah Jessup and Amy Richards. A celebration of Liz’s life is planned for Spring 2022. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Citizens‘ Climate Lobby (https://citizensclimatelobby.org/donate/)