In Memoriam

Charles E. Treman, Jr.

Charlie Treman (right) with Lab associate director Scott Sutcliffe during the construction of the Johnson Center. Photo by Scott Sutcliffe

If you live in Ithaca, New York, and someone mentions birds, the first thing that comes to mind is Sapsucker Woods, second the Lab of Ornithology, and third Charles E. Treman, Jr. Why Charles Treman? Because his association with this organization is almost as old as the Lab, dating back to the 1920s when he and several school chums planted a grove of conifers in what became known as Sapsucker Woods. His involvement with the Lab continued to the very last day of his life this past September, when he asked his daughter, Terry Williams, to install new bird feeders outside his bedroom window.

Charles E. Treman, Jr., known to friends as Charlie, was a tremendously successful businessman, civic leader, and Cornell trustee. His family history is linked to Cornell and surrounding communities dating back to the 18th century. In fact, Trumansburg, a village near Ithaca, was originally called Tremansburg in honor of Charlie’s great-great grandfather, a homesteader in 1792.

Birds captured Charlie’s interest at a young age. He was a friend of renowned artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, a disciple and student of Lab founder Arthur Allen, and a lifetime member of the Lab of Ornithology’s administrative board. He and his beloved wife, Margo, loved feeding and watching their backyard birds. When he retired as president of Ithaca’s leading bank, Tompkins County Trust, the institution endowed and named the Treman Bird Feeding Garden at Sapsucker Woods. Charlie and Margo visited the bird-feeding garden regularly, arriving in the late afternoon to take a seat and watch the birdlife outside. Few friends appreciated the comforts of the Lab’s bird observatory more than Charlie and Margo. And no one appreciated the Lab of Ornithology more than Charlie Treman. In a 1993 letter to our board chair, Ned Morgens, Charlie waxed eloquently about his and Margo’s long- term, productive association with the Lab, ending with a humble, “Truly, we have received more than we have given!”

His humbleness notwithstanding, Charlie was generous with his time and finances. In 1999, he and Margo funded the first-ever graduate student fellowship at the Lab. In 2002, they funded the construction and provided an operating endowment for the magnificent new Treman Bird Feeding Garden. And the Tremans made generous provisions in their estate plans to support Lab programs in perpetuity.

We will miss Charlie as we have already missed Margo for nearly three years. Fond memories will endure forever and generation upon generation of students, visitors, and feeder birds at Sapsucker Woods will benefit from Charlie and Margo’s beneficence.

Scott Sutcliffe
Associate Director

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Tim Gallagher, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-2443. email: twg3@cornell.edu