In Memoriam

Floyd D. Gottwald Jr. and Michel Marchandise

The IGFA is deeply saddened by the loss of two significant figures in the organization, Michel Marchandise, IGFA Trustee Emeritus of Belgium, and Floyd Gottwald, IGFA Trustee Emeritus of Virginia, USA. Both individuals dedicated a significant amount of time, energy, and resources to help shape the IGFA into what it is today. Additionally, both were highly accomplished anglers with a passion for the sport and for ensuring its future.

 

Floyd Gottwald

Floyd Gottwald was born July 29, 1922, and grew up outside of Richmond, Virginia, US. Gottwald attended the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1943.

Floyd was a veteran of World War II and was awarded both a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal. His Bronze Star was awarded with a "V" for valor, a distinction given for participation in acts of heroism involving conflict with an armed enemy.

Floyd had a passion for the outdoors. A hunter and an avid fisherman, he enjoyed time on the Pamunkey River near his home in Virginia, US, in the Florida Keys, and fishing the Gulfstream aboard his beloved Sarah Beth. Floyd won the Masters Angling Tournament in 1976, a contest that awards an angler for his ability to hook, catch and release an Atlantic sailfish.

Gottwald joined the IGFA Board of Trustees in 1992 and actively served until 2012, then becoming a trustee emeritus of the organization. In addition to his service to the IGFA, Gottwald was also an early member of the Virginia Angler's Club in Richmond.

 

 

Michel Marchandise

Michel Marchandise was born on October 29, 1950, and began fishing at a young age. For nearly half a century, Michel Marchandise traveled to some of the most remote fishing hot spots on the planet in the quest for billfish, swordfish, and tunas including Clipperton Island, French Polynesia, the Solomon Islands, Micronesia, New Zealand, Australia, Nova Scotia, and Central America. A prominent big-game angler, Marchandise was proficient in various techniques from bait fishing to trolling. In his later years, Marchandise also began fly fishing, specifically for salmon.

Marchandise was a lawyer by trade but made his professional career in retail and real estate. He became familiar with the IGFA in the mid-1970s through the IGFA Representative from Belgium at that time, Michel Margoulies. Twenty years later, in the mid-1990s, Marchandise succeeded him and became an IGFA Representative, and several years later he joined the IGFA Board of Trustees in 2014.  

In addition to his service to the IGFA, Marchandise was also a member of the Belgium Big Game Fishing Club and past President of the Big Game Fishing Club of France.

 

The IGFA extends our condolences to both families of these incredible anglers and influencers of our sport.