Jack Ward Thomas

Jack Ward Thomas (September 7, 1934 – May 26, 2016) was the thirteenth chief of the U.S. Forest Service, serving during the Clinton administration years of 1993–1996.

His undergraduate education and degree (a BS in wildlife management in 1957) was from Texas A&M University.

He headed a Forest Service research unit at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

In 1974, he moved to La Grande, Oregon, working as the chief research wildlife biologist and program leader at the USFS Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory.

After retiring from the Forest Service, he accepted a position as the Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the School of Forestry of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana—a position he held until 2006 when he officially retired.