David Shrider Miami University professor falls 150ft to his death hiking Alaska mountain. Oxford Ohio educator had called out for help moments before plunging.
A much beloved business professor at Miami University has died after falling 150-feet down the peak of a mountain while hiking in Alaska.
David Shrider, 52, of Oxford, Ohio, was climbing the 6,696-foot high Donoho Peak with his son and four other friends and family members on Friday, in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve when tragedy struck.
The entourage were halfway up the peak when Shrider fell, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
His body was recovered the next day.
Prior to the fall, officials said, ‘a family member in the hiking group reported that he asked for help and then rolled approximately 150-feet down a slope. When a member of the group found him, he was dead.’
Strenuous hike
Troopers did not specify why he asked for help at that moment, but the National Parks Service describes the hike as ‘strenuous.’
His son then reportedly called 911, and Alaska State Troopers said they received a call about a hiker’s death just after 6:30 p.m. Friday.
The park’s search and rescue team and Alaska State Troopers used a helicopter to recover his body at around 1:30 p.m. the next day.
The educator’s body was taken to the McCarthy Airport, and will be transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage, so an official cause of death could be determined. It remained unclear how physically equipped and fitness wise, the teacher was for the arduous mountain climb.
Shrider graduated from Ohio’s Miami University with degrees in finance and economics in 1992.
He returned as a professor there in 2004, serving as the director of Global Business Programs since 2017, the Farmer School of Business wrote in a Facebook post following the news of his death.
‘David was much loved as a valuable friend and colleague of many at the Farmer School, Miami University and the Oxford community at large,’ the school wrote in a statement.
String of rescues in region
‘His positive impact and connection with his students was immeasurable, and resulted in his being named the Outstanding Professor by the Miami University Associate Student Government in 2020.’
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children.’
According to the Facebook post, Shrider was named Outstanding Professor by the Miami University Associated Student Government in 2020.
The Miami University Athletics’ Department also tweeted: ‘Our deepest condolences to the Shrider family on the sudden loss of a beloved husband, father, son and friend, David.’
The department called him ‘a staple within athletics for many years as an avid supporter, board member and son to former Athletic Director, Dick Shrider.
‘The epitome of Love and Honor, David will be missed.’
David Shrider’s death comes amid a string of rescues at the 13.2 million-acre national park.
On May 26, a man hiking near the same mountain was rescued after surviving a fall hundreds of feet down a snow-covered slope and over a cliff, according to the Anchorage Daily News, and on May 31, crews rescued two people whose helicopter had crashed at the park three days earlier.
Then on June 1, the Daily News reports, the Alaska National Guard rescued a dozen mountaineers who were stranded on Klutlan Glacier amid several days of bad weather.
