Daniel Michael Willshire, age 57, known to his friends in the hiking community as "The Griz", passed away on December 29, 2019 at Ascension-All Saints Hospital in Racine, WI, from complications resulting from throat cancer. He was born on June 14, 1962 in Milwaukee, WI to parents Frank and Kathryn Willshire. Dan died peacefully surrounded by family and friends.

He attended James Madison High School in Milwaukee, WI in the mid-1970s and served in the US Navy on the U.S.S. Clarke from 1978-1981.

Dan was a dedicated hiker and backpacker with a love of the outdoors who walked the Appalachian Trail solo and who worked for many years as a volunteer blazing the North Country Trail. He loved real books and real beer, and in all but the formal degree was a self-taught naturalist and ornithologist.

He is survived by his beloved brother, Tom and nephews Henry and Edward Willshire; his beloved aunt and god-mother, Rosemary Link and a loving extended family in his father's native England; beloved friends and brothers on the trail, Mike Schultz and Kevin Steffens; beloved friend, Maria Durci and many others met in a life of activity and incident.

A celebration of Dan's life and the interment of his ashes alongside his parents and at a wilderness spot he loved will be held in the spring, when the trees blossom and the birds are at full song.

Details will be communicated via social media and on the funeral home website.

Gifts in Dan's memory to the North Country Trail Association (northcountrytrail.org). Please specify The Heritage Chapter (Wisconsin).eiHH