Famed Idaho inventor Forrest Bird dies

Doctor and aviator Forrest Bird died Sunday at age 94 in his north Idaho home in Sagle, according to the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center.

Bird was an accomplished pilot, doctor and world-famous inventor. He also was a World War II veteran, philanthropist and author. He invented a medical respirator, among other things, and in 1995 was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

In 2007, he and his wife Pamela opened the Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, which displays his aircraft and inventions and approximately 20 other aircraft dating from pre-World War I to the present.

In 2010, a Sandpoint charter school changed its moniker to the Forrest M. Bird Charter School in an effort to make sure Bird was not forgotten in Idaho history.

Click here to read our feature on Bird.

Chick here to read an obituary published in the Spokesman-Review. A service is planned for 11 a.m. Aug. 8 at his aviation museum in Sagle.

 

 

Idaho EdNews Staff

Idaho EdNews Staff

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