Eugene “Gene” Amandus Studer, beloved husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend passed away unexpectedly on November 1, 2024, at his home on Vashon Island, Washington.

Raised in a military family, Gene was born on September 20, 1947, at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, to Rosario (Duarte) Studer and Robert Studer U.S.A., Ret. He was the eldest of four, with two sisters, Rita and Maria and his brother, Mark.

Gene followed his father’s path into the Army, attending St. John’s University in Minnesota for one year before attending the United States Military Academy (USMA ‘70). While at the Academy, Gene met the love of his life, Nancy Marilyn Feyereisen, at a party hosted by her parents. Off to a rocky start, Gene offended Nancy by disliking her mother’s Christmas bread, but his charm, intellect, and mischievous wit quickly won Nancy over. After he graduated and was commissioned as a 2LT in the Army, they were married on June 6th, 1970, at Ft. Meyer, Virginia. They had three children, Jennifer, Matthew and Marah.

A soldier and scholar, Gene dedicated his life to the pursuit of justice. Hegraduated from Santa Clara University Law School with a Juris Doctorate in 1977 and furthered his legal education with an LLM from University of Pennsylvania in 1983. Primarily serving as a defense attorney, Gene’s military service was varied and complex, ranging from defending soldiers in Korea to military doctors as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney. He retired from the Army in 1992 as a Lt. Colonel Judge Advocate General after 22 years of active-duty service.

Gene continued his career in medical malpractice at the United States Attorney’s office, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. He then moved to Abbey, Putnam, Albo and Causey law firm, practicing maritime and personal injury law, defending workers and the underserved. Gene spent the final part of his career practicing medical malpractice law at the Johnson, Graffe, Keay, Moniz & Wick law firm.

Gene unconditionally loved Nancy, recently celebrating 54 years of marriage. He loved his children and extended family and friends. Gene also loved learning. Forever intellectually curious, he was a student of democracy, history, literature, and geology. He loved America, so much so that he often carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket. He was also a writer, poet and a lover of poetry.

But perhaps most of all, he loved fly fishing. A self-proclaimed fishing bum, he spent years camping and fishing throughout the United States and Europe. His joy was a fly rod in his hand and a river under his feet searching for the perfect drift and a big brown trout, preferably in Yellowstone National Park or the braids on the Madison River. He reveled in sharing his love of fishing with his children, grandchildren and fishing buddies.

“Poets talk about ‘spots of time,’ but it is really fishermen who experience eternity compressed into a moment. No one can tell what a spot of time is until suddenly the whole world is a fish and the fish is gone.”–“A River Runs Through It.”

Gene was preceded in death by his parents, COL Robert Studer, U.S.A. Ret., Rosario Duarte Studer, and his sister Rita Dudley. Gene is survived by his wife, Nancy Marilyn Studer (Feyereisen); his children Jennifer Studer (Peter) Houston, COL Matthew (Kari) Studer U.S.A. Ret., and Marah (Sebastien Gaetan) Studer; former son-in-law Stewart(Jody) Todd; his brother MAJ Mark (Nancy) Studer U.S.A. Ret., and sister, Maria Studer; and his grandchildren John Houston, Alex Todd, Emily Houston, Owen Todd, Maxwell Studer, Ellery Studer, Vivian Studer and Milo Studer.

A celebration of Gene’s life is planned for February 1, 2025, 1 p.m., at the Union Club in Tacoma, Washington. Gifts may be made to the ACLU, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the Epilepsy Foundation.