It is with great sadness that we let you know that Tony Nekut, who was on the steering committees of Community Biomass Energy and the Danby Land Bank Cooperative and a good friend, died, after decades of struggling with depression, on Sunday, Sept 18. Tony worked as an engineer at Vector Magnetics on Cherry Street in Ithaca, NY. He has long been a proponent of biomass thermal combustion in the community and was involved in multiple biomass projects. among them installing one of the first biomass boilers at the Cayuga Nature Center and helping with the one at the Danby Highway Department. His continuing leadership in the grass energy sector was exemplified in spearheading development of a new prototype grass densification, transportation and feeding system with technical assistance from the New York Biomass Energy Alliance, the New York Farm Viability Institute and SUNY Cobleskill, a project that was in mid-stream at the time of his passing.
Tony will be sincerely missed by all of his friends and colleagues in the alternative energy sector across the Northeast.
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Although I only met Tony once in person, I feel that I knew him through his writings and valuable contributions to alternative energy development. I had no knowledge of his struggles with depression; however, and so was shocked to read about his untimely death. Depression is an insidious illness that must always be taken seriously. Such sad and painful news !!! My sincere condolences to his family and friends. Jon Montan, St. Lawrence County
I met Tony during our week-long Austria trip a few summers ago and I have had a few followups. I was always impressed by his sincerity, intellectual curiosity, and commitment to finding viable solutions to produce energy from biomass. It is very sad to hear of his passing and the battle with depression that took his life. I pray for the comfort of this family and friends.
Jonathan Kays, University of Maryland
Tony was a passionate and committed to conservationist. He served on the advisory committee for a Cornell project focused on woody biomass production on private forestlands in New York. I enjoyed getting to know him and I can’t think of a more committed and enthusiastic landowner that was as involved in promoting biomass production as he was. He will truly be missed.
We here at Broome Biomass were definately floored to hear of this sad news. Tony always talked so much about the future that we never thought of this as a remote possibility. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
I (Doreen) would like to encourage anyone who feels depressed to please talk with someone. Unfortunately, this industry can be highly stressful and sometimes it feels very unproductive but, please know that the lines of communication strengthen every day and that many of us are struggling with you.
I knew Tony fairly well, and will miss him. I wish that he had been able to reach out in a way that we might have been able to help him.