LITTLE ROCK — John Patrick “Pat” Fitts, who was the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 18th director and served from 2018-2021, died Wednesday morning in Little Rock. He was 59.
Fitts began his 32-year career with the agency as a fisheries technician, mowing levees and dragging seines at the Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery in Lonoke, when he was in high school. He briefly left the AGFC to earn a bachelor’s degree in fish and wildlife management from Arkansas Tech University before rejoining the ranks as a fisheries biologist. He later became a game warden and worked his way up from cadet to colonel of enforcement before moving into administration and serving as a deputy director, then agency director.
During his time as a game warden, Fitts was awarded the Life-Saving Award for heroic action in the face of grave danger. He was named Arkansas’s Wildlife Officer of the Year and the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year for the entire Southeast in 2003 by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
AGFC Chief of Staff Chris Racey, who worked alongside Fitts, said that his ability to uplift those around him was a trait that made Fitts one of the most beloved directors he had the pleasure of serving with…