Irwin Post
Irwin Post

Chester, Vt. — Irwin L. Post, 64, died on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, at DHMC after a long struggle with complications from a stem cell transplant to address his leukemia.

Irwin was born Jan. 27, 1953. His boyhood was spent largely in Averill Park, N.Y. Irwin earned a BS in Agricultural Engineering at Cornell University, an MS in Natural Resources at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and a Ph.D. in Forest Engineering at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse. His employment included working for the Soil Conservation Service and as a professor at UMass Amherst, Vermont Technical College, and Antioch University New England.

However, being self-employed was always what seemed to suit Irwin best. His work included fine woodworking, developing a line of wooden weaving looms, sustainable logging, and working as a consultant for forest management. He also designed and built innovative logging equipment, so that he could harvest logs from his land and turn them into lumber. Irwin brought the mind of an experimentalist and an engineer to design systems that maximized the efficiency of his work. He was ahead of his time, constructing super-insulated homes for his family since 1980.

Irwin used systematic and innovative approaches in his forestry work and constantly questioned conventional thought. He shared his insights by writing articles for the magazines, Sawmill and Woodlot and Northern Woodlands, and was a contributing author to the book, More Than a Woodlot.

Irwin’s generosity, warmth, upbeat personality, and sureness of spirit left his family and friends feeling better for having spent time with him.

Irwin is survived by his wife, Melissa and parents, Dan and Frieda Post of Chester; son, Nathan and his wife, Susi of Malden, Mass.; son, Brian and his wife, Lindsay, and their daughter, Summer of N. Springfield, Vt.; sisters, Ellen Post Foster and her husband, Brad of Edwards, Colo., and Marion Caldwell and her husband, Tom Chicovsky of Evergreen, Colo.; one niece and three nephews; and former wife, Diane Post of N. Springfield, Vt.

A Gathering of Remembrance will be held at the First Universalist Parish, North St., Chester at 1 p.m. on Feb. 10, 2018. A reception will follow at the Fullerton Inn, 40 Common St., Chester.

Donations in Irwin’s memory can be made to The Center for Northern Woodlands Education (Irwin Post Speakers Fund), P.O. Box 471, 1776 Center Rd., Corinth, VT 05039.