Mike was so easy going. He had the last name of a hall-of-fame basketball player, was the tallest guy in our class, but was not an athlete. I’m sure he was bugged by coaches and classmates, but he never complained.  He impressed my mom with his politeness and strikinglygood looks, and I remember his review (positive) of the “new” My Fair Lady movie as a special moment between the two of them.

I regret that Mike and I lost touch after high school, which was my fault, since Mike loved reunions, but I attended so few. So it was not until the fortieth that Mike and I really reconnected. After that our friendship blossomed and we kept well in touch. Mike worked in a visit to my wife and me coinciding with a business trip to Iowa in 2019. Mike’s business was four-and-a-half hours from our town of Grinnell, but Mike made it a priority and we had a lovely couple of days showing him around and having friends over. He timed his visit with a polar vortex, so we had to loan him some winter gear for his trip to the work site after the visit. We got to visit Mike once at his home in Louisville. Starting with the pandemic, Mike initiated monthly zoom conversations that kept us well connected.

At both the fiftieth and last fall’s reunion Mike and I arrived early enough for some great one-on-one time together. Despite Mike’s frailty at last fall’s event, that first day together was wonderful. We began the day with a long, leisurely breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express that ended with seconds on coffee at the pool deck. Then we drove to Miami to visit Wendy (Chappelle) Wallace and her husband, Rich, taking the scenic route down A1A. We both savored the slow pace, frequent stops, and glorious South Florida morning. Wendy and Rich gave us a wonderful tour of their area, including a visit to a bayfront park where we saw cool birds and fish. The day ended with the Jungle Queen Cruise on the New River, where Mike and I shared beer and more conversation. The memory of that day will stay with me.

Mike could always lift my spirits and he was as humble a person as I’ve met. There was not an ounce of bravado in him. Yet, he left a superb legacy as an environmentalist and climate scientist through his long business life and his vast public service. You can read the particulars in his obituary. Mike was a wonderful friend and I miss him greatly.

Submitted by Tom Moore 4/2/2023

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MICHAEL DEBUSSCHERE OBITUARY
Environmentalist and local businessman Michael DeBusschere died February 25th, 2023 after a 12 year battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was 75. He is survived by his loving wife, Jane, of 50 years; his daughter, Kate DeBusschere-Nikolic (Marko & grandson Oliver); and son, Eric; his sister, Sandy Johnson (Marvin) of Davenport, FL; his sister, Karen Robson (Doug) of Friendsville, TN; and his brother, Paul DeBusschere (Amy), of Canton, GA; many wonderful nieces and nephews; and his supportive, cat Benny.
Michael was a noted environmental professional for over 50 years. A veteran of the Public Health Service, he was project manager for four of the first air pollution implementation plans while working at EPA when it was first formed. He was Director of the Indianapolis Air Pollution Control Division, and was Louisville's Air Pollution Control Officer for over nine years, during which he developed the first emissions trading program in North America.
He then left government to start Camp Dresser & McKee's Louisville Industrial Services group, was Senior Vice President of ERM Midwest managing their regional air compliance, health & safety program, and was a Vice President of TRC Environmental, a member of the legendary Air Force. He subsequently founded Kentuckiana Engineering Company, an environmental consultancy specializing in industrial environmental compliance and permitting, notable for securing the last air emissions permit for a major coal burning power plant in the US and the first two permits for full sized coal gasification power plants in the US. His accomplishments the last twenty years included work as a LEED reviewer for almost 100 US Green Building Council certifications, consulting with the Panama Canal and other foreign entities to build environmental management systems, conducting ISO environmental, health & safety management plan verifications in the US, Canada and Mexico and verifying over 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas reductions from programs in a wide variety of protocols. He was a President of the Urban Alternative Homestead in Louisville, and chaired a county-wide bottle bill commission.
Michael was active in the International Air & Waste Management Association or AWMA, a world-wide body composed of industrial, university, government and consulting professionals. He founded the AWMA Kentucky Chapter, Chaired the East Central Section, the organization's Sections & Chapters Council and became international President in 2000. During this period, he performed lectures in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico, was a consultant to the Marshall Plan regarding emissions trading in Germany, and consulted with several cities in Poland regarding vehicle emissions monitoring. He initiated the organization's designation as a delegate to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was its first delegate to the Conference of the Parties in Katowice, Poland in 2018 and again in 2020 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Michael was a Kentucky Real Estate Broker and founded DeBusschere Realty, a property management and rehabilitation business. The company performed the first historic rehab in Phoenix Hill and in the NuLu neighborhoods. In addition to saving and restoring residential properties in Louisville and Ft Lauderdale, the company acquired and managed over one hundred by-the-office rentals known as Summit Executive Suites and St. Matthews Executive Suites.
Michael traveled extensively with Jane and for business, visiting all seven continents, almost all European countries and most of Mexico and Canada. He visited all 50 states and 60 countries. His other interests were collecting first edition books, fine art and currencies from around the world.
Michael leaves behind a wonderful family and dear friends who supported him in every way.