The University of Utah is reeling after the death of Craig Forster, director of the U.'s Office of Sustainability, who died Friday after a hiking accident in Zion National Park.

Forster, 55, was hiking with friends in Zion Nation Park during a holiday weekend outing. While walking along an unnamed canyon trail near state Route 9, Forster lost his footing and fell nearly 20 feet, landing mainly on his head, according to a statement released by park officials.

Park officials said friends immediately began CPR on Forster as a witness to the accident ran to alert park officials to the situation. Park rangers, who are also trained medics, arrived on the scene within 12 minutes with a defibrillator but were unable to revive Forster.

Forster was a professor in the architecture and planning department and the director of the Office of Sustainability, a budding office at the university that was created at the encouragement of students on campus.

"The Office of Sustainability was a student initiative, and it is rare when a professor will take a student project and help it come to life," said Patrick Reimherr, president of the Associated Students of the University of Utah. "He incorporated students into the office well, he let students generate their own projects and worked with them to create success."

Reimherr worked with Forster on the sustainability core committee and said Forster could always keep projects moving in the right direction while letting students maintain ownership of their ideas.

Since the office began operating two years ago, Brenda Scheer, dean of the college of architecture and planning, said Forster and students have helped introduce innovative solutions of sustainability to the campus. The office spearheaded initiatives such as a recycling program, the installation of advanced watering systems, a co-generation plant and a campus farmers market.

"People knew Craig for his ability to let people shine," Scheer said. "People were at their best with Craig; he was truly irreplaceable for that."

Forster's academic work was in the study of hydrogeology, yet Sheer said he was a professor who thrived in areas that required an interdisciplinary approach. His strength as an educator and colleague was his ability to get dynamic groups of people together and working in a cohesive group, Scheer said.

Bonnie Baty, Forster's wife, said his passion for educating and networking left little free time for her husband. But he was passionate about music and the outdoors. Forster played in a Hungarian band and was an avid skier.

"A colleague of Craig's told me that he never saw Craig happier than when he was working with students," Baty said. "He liked the idea he was passing on the torch. Motivating people was one of his great loves."

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E-mail: cnorlen@desnews.com