Forensic nursing lost a long-time supporter on March 18, 2025 in Dr. Zug G. Standing Bear. Zug died peacefully with his family in Divide, Colorado. He leaves his wife of nearly 37 years, Virginia Lynch, daughters from their blended family, and hundreds of former students, colleagues, and hedgehog lovers who adored him.

In a 2023 perspective piece for the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Virginia recalled the supportive role that Zug played in her efforts to promote forensic nursing. “Most significantly, the Academy introduced me to my husband of 35 years, Dr. Zug Standing Bear, Fellow," she wrote. "He was the Chair of the General Section in 1986 at the 38th annual AAFS meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana where I presented the first AAFS paper on the forensic nurse in death investigation. Since that time, he has helped me to design, deliver, and promote a paradigm that is changing the manner in which victims and criminal offenders are processed through the health and justice systems. This fortuitous meeting of two forensic minds created an incredible marriage and evolved into a forensic partnership embracing health, justice, and ethics, thus enhancing both of our lives."

Others remember Zug for his love of teaching forensic science. Surveys report he was a highly rated professor at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and he will be missed by the generations of students who testify publicly to his engaging pedagogical methods and manner.

Zug’s hobby was rescuing hedgehogs, and he ran the largest rescue in North America — the Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue in Divide, Colorado. Zug taught us that a socialized hedgehog is happy, snuggles, and pulls its quills down when making a chortling sound like a cat (seen in the photo).

Through his love and talent for teaching, Zug advocated for hedgehogs and brought their strengths to life in his novel, The Gathering: Secretly Saving the World – Book One of the Hedgehog Chronicles.

Zug G. Standing Bear changed many lives, whether teaching forensic sciences, loving and advocating for hedgehogs, or supporting the development and recognition of forensic nursing. Forensic nursing will be forever grateful for his vision, love, and support of our founder, Virginia Lynch. To borrow Dolly Parton’s lyric, Forensic nursing “wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.” Thank you, Zug.

– Written by Dr. Patricia M. Speck