Donald “Don” J. Tyson, an IGFA Hall of Fame member and Trustee Emeritus, died Thursday 6 January 2011 following a brief illness. A longtime friend and benefactor of the IGFA, and an accomplished angler and conservationist, Don’s passing will be mourned by many in the sportfishing community.
A giant in both business and billfishing, Don Tyson’s entire fishing career has been a crusade for conservation. Almost 70 years have passed since his father drove a truckload of Arkansas chickens to Chicago because he heard they were bringing a better price in northern markets. From his $235 profit he wired home $220 – to pay debts and buy more chickens. This was the first long-haul trip from Arkansas to the more lucrative Chicago poultry markets, and John Tyson was the pioneer. The Tyson Feed and Hatchery began in 1947 and five years later Don Tyson joined his father in the business. In 1966 he became president, and the following year he took over control of the company after losing his parents in an accident. By 1994 Tyson Foods had become the 110th largest manufacturing company on the Fortune 500 list, and today the company is the top provider of protein products on the planet.
Don Tyson started big-game fishing to see places his father only dreamed of. “My dad worked all his life and had never
taken off any time before he was killed. I made myself a deal that I would start taking off one week per month when I was 40 years old, and I pretty much did it,” he once said. He caught his first billfish in Bimini in the mid-1960s, a 400 lb blue marlin. But Tyson soon realized that these beautiful creatures were meant to swim in oceans, not hang on docks, and he began releasing his catches. His skippers and deckhands, who had been selling each billfish for $50, were horrified by this turn of events. Tyson solved the problem by giving them $100 a fish to let them go.
Since that first fishing trip to the Bahamas Don Tyson’s traveled everywhere, and his vessels are as recognizable as he was. Horizons, his 103-ft supply boat, carried 33,000 gallons of fuel and 90 days' worth of supplies, making trips to remote locales, from Bali to Ghana, possible. Tyson was serious and passionate about his fishing, and was considered a superb angler. Though estimates on the number of marlin he personally caught and released range from 400 to 700, you would not hear these figures from him. He did not keep track and he did not fish for records; he simply wanted to get the fish in quickly, tag and release, because “the fun is just catching them and turning them loose for someone else to enjoy.”
Don Tyson gave generously of his time and finances to many organizations. His devotion to conservation and growing concern about the future of the world’s fisheries led to the creation of The Billfish Foundation in 1985. Tyson, Mel Immergut and Win Rockefeller decided something needed to be done to ensure that billfish stocks would survive for future generations. Immediately they began working on two goals: getting anglers to consistently think and practice tag-and-release and convincing billfish tournaments to not kill every fish. Over the past 25 years, the 
organization has made great strides in both.
An IGFA Trustee Emeritus, Don Tyson was Building Committee Co-Chairman for the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum. The single largest contributor to the Museum, he personally ensured that the 63,000 square foot building and headquarters for the International Game Fish Association became a reality. Tyson envisioned – and helped make a reality -- a state-of-the-art facility that would preserve the sport he loves, inspire new generations of anglers, and instill in the thousands of school-age children who visit annually, the visitors he’s most excited about, the joys of fishing and a respect for our resources. At the grand opening in January 1999, the Board of Trustees dedicated the Museum to Donald J. Tyson in appreciation for his leadership, vision and commitment. It is with great pleasure that IGFA adds to its list of Hall of Fame honorees the name of Don Tyson, a very private philanthropist and a very public conservationist, who is dedicated to the cause of conserving the world’s great fish for future generations.
Don was preceded in death by his father John W. and his step-mother Helen Knoll Tyson, as well as his mother Mildred Tyson; and, by his wife Twilla Jean Womochil Tyson and his brother Randal Tyson. He is survived by his son, John Tyson and three daughters, Carla Tyson, Cheryl Tyson and Joslyn J. Caldwell-Tyson; his sister-in-law Barbara Tyson; as well as two grandchildren, John Randal Tyson and Olivia Laine Tyson; and, long-time friends Gloria Gray, Ramona Caldwell, Shelby Rogers and Melissa Ramsey. A public memorial service is being planned, with details to be announced later.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to The Billfish Foundation, The Mayo Clinic and the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. To make a donation to The Billfish Foundation in Tyson's honor, visit www.billfish.org/sections/182.