Remembering Dick Bradshaw
The Pacific Salmon Foundation (PSF) remembers the life of Dick Bradshaw – a passionate fisherman and longtime supporter of Pacific salmon conservation in British Columbia who passed away on December 17, 2025.
Dick cared deeply about the environment and was a passionate Pacific salmon conservationist and advocate.
“Dick Bradshaw was a kind and generous man and all of us at PSF who knew him are so grateful for his abiding interest, passion, and support. Over the years, I had many conversations with Dick and what always struck me was how thoughtful and engaged he was on Pacific salmon and environmental issues. We have lost a true wild salmon champion, but Dick and his wife Val have made significant impacts that will be felt by the salmon community for generations to come,” says Michael Meneer, President and CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation.
Dick and his wife Val’s generous support was instrumental in establishing the PSF Salish Sea Marine Survival Project – an unprecedented five-year research project involving 200 scientists from 60 organizations between 2014 and 2019.
The work conducted during this project laid the foundation for PSF’s on-going independent science programs that have since investigated many big issues facing salmon, including the impact of open-net salmon farms and factors affecting salmon survival in the Strait of Georgia. None of this cutting-edge research would have been possible without the initial backing of salmon lovers like Dick and Val Bradshaw.
Many salmon scholars, including PSF scientists such as Dr. Will Bugg, have benefited from the Liber Ero Post Doctoral Fellowship in Conservation Biology, which was set up by the Bradshaw’s in 2013. Many PSF projects have used the Liber Ero, a boat donated to the University of Victoria as part of the fellowship, for several seasons of fieldwork.
Dick and Val also generously backed the restoration of the Tsolum River, a salmon river on Vancouver Island that suffered greatly from a copper mine in the watershed.
A celebration of Dick’s life will be held on Sunday, January 25, 2026 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, 4300 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver. PSF and the Nature Trust of BC were included in Dick’s obituary for those wishing to make a charitable donation in Dick’s memory.
