Services Tuesday for conservationist Dr. Don McMillan

Services will be Tuesday at Assumption Church in St. Paul for Don McMillan, president of the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Alliance (MOHA), who died Thursday evening, after suffering a heart attack late Tuesday afternoon.

Visitation will be at 9 a.m., with a funeral at 10. A reception will follow at the church.

McMillan, 74, of Mendota Heights, was a lifelong conservationist, a past president of Safari Club International, and an active member of many outdoor-related groups. He also founded the Safari Club's political action committee.

A dentist and former instructor at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, he was an advocate for hunting, fishing and conservation, and introducing youth to the outdoors

McMillan was always available to advance the causes of fish and wildlife conservation, and to testify at hearings and other events at the Capitol in St. Paul.

He also spoke forcefully and eloquently on behalf of conservation in Washington.

McMillan played a key role in passage in 2008 of the Legacy Amendment.

"He had a huge effect," said Garry Leaf, executive director of Sportsmen for Change. "He brought with him experience you couldn't find elsewhere, because he had been working on behalf of conservation since the 1960s.

"He was invaluable. He was very motivational. He was always the first to encourage me, and us."

Most recently, McMillan oversaw the annual MOHA fund-raising and legislative banquet, which each year attracts the state's conservation players and legislative leaders.

Gov. Mark Dayton had been scheduled to speak at the dinner, but was ill and had to cancel. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was among politicans and state leaders to attend.

The address of Assumption Church is 51 7th St. West, St. Paul.