Former AGFC Director Pat Fitts dies at 59 

LITTLE ROCK —  John Patrick “Pat” Fitts, who was the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 18th director and served from 2018-2021, died Wednesday morning in Little Rock. He was 59.

Fitts began his 32-year career with the agency as a fisheries technician, mowing levees and dragging seines at the Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery in Lonoke, when he was in high school. He briefly left the AGFC to earn a bachelor’s degree in fish and wildlife management from Arkansas Tech University before rejoining the ranks as a fisheries biologist. He later became a game warden and worked his way up from cadet to colonel of enforcement before moving into administration and serving as a deputy director, then agency director.

During his time as a game warden, Fitts was awarded the Life-Saving Award for heroic action in the face of grave danger. He was named Arkansas’s Wildlife Officer of the Year and the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year for the entire Southeast in 2003 by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

AGFC Chief of Staff Chris Racey, who worked alongside Fitts, said that his ability to uplift those around him was a trait that made Fitts one of the most beloved directors he had the pleasure of serving with.

“Pat was a joyful person, and anyone who spent time with him couldn’t help but feel better,” Racey said. “He was super smart, but he was also humble. When he did speak, it was often with intelligence and wit that anyone rarely could disagree with. He will truly be missed.”

That joyful demeanor and steadfast dedication was paramount during one of the agency’s, and country’s, most uncertain times, as Fitts held the reins and guided the efforts of the AGFC through COVID-19 pandemic protocols. He ensured that agency staff remained vigilant toward the cause of conservation and instilled confidence in them that their jobs were important and necessary in a world where layoffs and furloughs were commonplace. When he announced his resignation in December of 2020, the agency had seen a spike in hunting and fishing license sales as a result of the pandemic, and his work to calm employees had laid the groundwork to accommodate the resulting increase in outdoor recreation.

Fitts’ open door policy didn’t apply only to staff of the AGFC. He guided the AGFC’s efforts during the construction and opening of the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center in Springdale, establishing a critical footprint for the agency in the fastest-growing region of The Natural State.

Fitts also was instrumental in the response to trees dying at Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area in 2017. Vast infrastructure improvements at the WMA set the groundwork for other greentree reservoir evaluations and renovations to conserve the public green-timber duck hunting legacy for which Arkansas is known.

Among his many honors were Arkansas Game Warden of the Year in 2003, an AGFC Lifesaving Award, an outstanding game warden award from the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and several AGFC Waterfowl Game Warden of the Year awards.

The decision to retire after 3½ years as director was challenging for Fitts, although family health problems swayed the choice.

“As I step away, I love this place,” Fitts said when he retired. “I was still a teenager when I realized this was what I wanted to do, and I’m not talking about being director, I’m talking about working in the conservation field for something so important to the state of Arkansas. I was not even 16 years old when I started wearing that (AGFC) patch and people were just drawn to it. They knew what the Arkansas Game and Fish did, they knew how important it was for our state, and that just spoke to me.

“I never dreamed I would be the director, yet here I am. I hate to leave this. This will always be a special place to me, and the things that we do here are even more special to me and my kids, and now my grandkids.”

Fitts is survived by his wife, Alice; a daughter, Audrey Kay; son, Austin, and grandchildren, Amelia and Jack.

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CUTLINES:

FLAG IMAGE
Fitts served as the AGFC’s 18th director and led with a knowing smile and comforting wit few possessed. AGFC image.

CHECKING NETS
Fitts’ spent his entire 32-year career with the AGFC, from working at a hatchery in high school to working in the field as a wildlife officer and eventually leading the agency before his retirement. AGFC image.

BEAR SEAT
Fitts posing with Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation President Deke Whitbeck at the grand opening of the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center in 2020. Photo courtesy of Deke Whitbeck.

IN WOODS
Fitts’ hosting Representatives Bruce Westerman and French Hill at Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area to gain federal support for the generational change needed to conserve Arkansas’s rich green-timber waterfowl resource. AGFC photo.