The university community and greater region is mourning the passing of UW-Green Bay Professor Emeritus Jack Day. Harold John (Jack) Day died on August 31, 2025, at the age of 96.
Prof. Day joined the UW-Green Bay faculty with tenure in 1970, as a professor of Environmental Control and the chairman of Environmental Control and Ecosystem Analysis. That same year, he was elected as president of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage Commission.
He was passionate about the environment and in 1972, he described UW-Green Bay’s role as “…our objective is to determine how we can develop the strategy to provide for maintenance of the quality of life we enjoy now, and still provide for substantial growth….this requires the involvement of faculty, of students, and a concerned public.”
Day was Director of Institute for Research and Environmental Change from 1975-1978, Chair of Natural and Applied Science from 1986-1989 and appointed to graduate faculty in Environmental Science and Policy in 1991. He retired and received emeritus status in 1994. His emeritus nomination papers noted:
“While he has contributed in many ways to the development of this University, it is in relating the University to the Green Bay region in which his accomplishments, in my judgement, are exceptional.”
“Dr. Day’s greatest strength has been his professional outreach to the community at levels from local to international.”
“Day has been a mainstay at UWGB in the senior seminar, general education courses and instructor of hydrology and water-quality courses.”
In 2005 Prof. Emeritus Day received a Founders Day award, along with Robert Wenger for their role in groundbreaking work to create the International Visiting Scholars Program, the first joint venture between UW-Green Bay and St. Norbert College.
Overall, it was noted he worked tirelessly as a community advocate for improving the water quality of Green Bay and the Fox River. “I respect and enjoy working with people who have a different point of view,” Day said. “I don’t always agree but I respect them never the less.”
The full obituary for Day can be found in the Green Bay Press-Gazette. In lieu of flowers, the family ask for donations to be made to the Harold “Jack” Day Memorial Fund. Donations can be sent to the UW-Green Bay Foundation, CL805, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311-7001. A service will be held at First United Methodist Church, 501 Howe Street in Green Bay, Wisconsin on October 16 at 11 a.m. with visitation starting at 9 a.m. A reception will be held at the Mauthe Center at UW-Green Bay from 12:30 until 2:30.