Jim Van Loan, 45-year owner of Steamboat Inn and a founding and life-long member of The North Umpqua Foundation, passed away after a life well-lived on April 2, 2025, in Bend, Oregon. A lifelong Oregonian, he was 88 years old.

At age 17 Jim enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve in the Korean War. Upon returning home to America he attended Oregon State University, earning a degree in Natural Resources. It was while attending OSU that Jim met Sharon Beals, who would become the love of his life and his wife of 68 years. He and Sharon began their life together in Corvallis, where Jim had a career as a college book salesman, traveling the western states during school sessions. They were introduced to Steamboat Inn by their neighbors and friends from the university, Jim and Martha Morris. Sharon’s work as a teacher dovetailed nicely with Jim’s academic calendar, allowing them time off during the summer. They spent three of those summers working together at Steamboat before purchasing the Inn from Frank and Jeannie Moore in the spring of 1975.

Jim was a keen and devoted steward of fisheries and natural resources in his native Oregon. Initially appointed by Governor Neil Goldschmidt, he served eight years on the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. he was one of the first board members of Oregon Trout, now known as The Freshwater Trust; and also served on boards for The Steamboaters, the Pacific Rivers Council, and the Wild Salmon Center.  From 2002 to 2006 he served on the Resource Advisory Committee for the Umpqua National Forest, where he assisted in securing funding for projects in the watershed and beyond.

While in recent decades Jim was not often seen with rod in hand along the North Umpqua, it was not for lack of fishing. While he loved his home waters, he also cast his lines farther afield, angling in Argentina, Chile, Iceland, Russia, Belize, Christmas Island, Mexico and Honduras. Among all these places, he had another near and dear to his heart: it was to the Sustut River in British Columbia that he returned each fall for 35 consecutive years, chasing steelhead alongside his good friends Roy Skoglund, Jim Ratzlaff, Jon Kurtz and any others he could encourage to join him. In a 2008 Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog interview he said, “I have a very forgiving spouse.”

Though curmudgeonly by design and an enigma to many, Jim Van Loan was a deeply kind and gracious person. Those who were lucky enough to have a cup of coffee with him at the Inn or enjoy a bottle of wine over dinner would find in short order that his stern countenance was in fact a penetrable veneer. He was a warm heart, a quick wit and a shameless spoiler of dogs. A close and loyal friend to many, he will be dearly missed.

The North Umpqua Foundation is part of the Winchester Dam Coalition comprised of 17 conservation andrecreational organizations working to bring the rule of law and regulation to Winchester Dam. Our coalition made an offer to the Winchester Water Control District to remove the dam for little to no cost to the homeowners. This offer still stands to help benefit everyone from Douglas County and the state of Oregon.