Archives West Finding Aid

Born in 1924, Kenneth Lee Diem served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1942-1946 and was the Executive Officer of the USS DE Dennis. In 1958 he received his Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from Utah State University, and began working for the University of Wyoming in 1957, where he was a professor of Zoology and Game Management and the director of the University of Wyoming-National Park Research Center. During his tenure Diem was presented with the U.S. Forest Service 75th Anniversary Award for significant contributions to Forestry and Conservation and was elected president of the Eisenhower Consortium for Western Forestry research. In 1989 Diem retired from active service at the University of Wyoming and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Zoology and Game Management. He, his wife Lenore, and William C. Lawrence together published A Tale of Dough Gods, Bear Grease, Cantaloupe and Sucker Oil: Marymere/Pinetree/Mae-Lou/AMK Ranch, a history of the AMK ranch of Moran, Wyoming, in 1986. In 1998 Kenneth and Lenore Diem wrote "A Community of Scalawags, Renegades, Discharged Soldiers and Predestined Stinkers", a history of northern Jackson Hole.