Member Profile - Bob Fulgency
Interviewed by Ron Spinosa

This “Member Profile” is the second in a series of articles designed to provide some personal background about the interesting and talented members of MMS. Bob Fulgency is the past president of the MMS, and a long standing member of the club.

Ron: Tell me a bit about your early life.

Bob: I was born in Paris, France just before the German invasion. Prior to that time my family had been living in Madrid where my father was an executive with Citibank. Because of the Spanish Civil War my mother, bothers and sister had relocated to Paris while my father stayed in Madrid and lived in our home near there. My father would visit the family from time to time from Spain. When the German invasion of France began my family happened to be vacationing on the French Riviera in Nice. Our apartment in Paris was abandoned and I am told that fearing an air strike by German fighter pilots my mother placed a mattress on the roof of her car along with an American flag and headed for Spain, where the Civil War was now concluded. We drove to Madrid and then traveled on to Lisbon, Portugal where we boarded a Pan American Clipper, one of the large early transatlantic sea planes, for our flight to New York. During World War II my family lived in the United States while my father continued working with Citibank in Brazil and Argentina. In 1946 my father was transferred to Havana, Cuba where the family lived for about ten years.

Ron: What is your educational and professional background?

Bob: I attended undergraduate school and law school in Oklahoma. Following law school, I worked in Washington, D. C. as an antitrust trial attorney for the Federal Trade Commission. After several years there I was hired by a large Minnesota manufacturing concern that was in litigation defending against a United States government complaint that alleged the company was in violation of the Federal antitrust laws for engaging in monopolistic practices. After many years of litigation the case was eventually won and ultimately dropped by the government and I later formed my own private practice law firm.

Ron: I have met your wife and son, but tell me about the rest of your family.

Bob: My wife and I have a wonderful family. I have a daughter who lives on the east coast and one that lives here in Minnesota. My son attended Marquette University and continued to live in Milwaukee after finishing graduate school, but he is now considering returning to Minnesota.

Ron: I see you have lived in several foreign countries, what are some of the other countries you have visited?

Bob: Over the years I have traveled in Europe, Central America and on one occasion visited China.

Ron: How did you become interested in mushrooms?

Bob: I used to frequently ride my mountain bike on the various state trails and when doing so I often noticed the large number of mushrooms along such trails. Later I happened to read a book called “True Hallucinations” by Terrence McKenna, an author anointed by some as the “Copernicus of consciousness”. The book describes the “author’s extraordinary adventures in the Devil’s Paradise”. Although the book deals mainly with Terrence’s experiences while under the influence of Stropharia cubensis, a hallucinogenic mushroom, it is also a superb adventure tale. Dennis McKenna, Terrence’s brother, who has attended our forays and given a presentation to MMS, was also along for this historic trip to the Devil’s Paradise. These two encounters triggered my decision to learn more about mushrooms and thus my fateful meeting with the MMS.

Ron: What offices have you held with MMS and NAMA and what activities have you managed?

Bob: Over the years I have served as Recording Secretary, Vice President, President and now Past President of MMS. With respect to NAMA, I have served as Secretary and am now its First Vice President. I was Co Chairman of the 2001 NAMA Foray which was held in Collegeville. I have thoroughly enjoyed working in each of these positions.

Ron: What do you like about MMS?

Bob: I am particularly fond of the members of the club. They are without exception a very friendly and cooperative group. And we are very fortunate to have a number of unique and sometimes eccentric characters in our club which I find extraordinarily refreshing in today’s uptight and politically correct world.

Ron: What is your favorite mushroom?

Bob: There are three edible mushrooms that I favor; the morel, chanterelle and King Bolete. I also find the amanita genus fascinating.

Ron: What is your most memorable mushroom moment?

Bob: That is a tough question as there have been so many; however, the incident that stands out in my mind is the time a few years ago when the club was on a foray in the Carlos Avery area. We were looking for morels and during the course of our wanderings we came upon a rather wide stream that had to be crossed by walking across a log that I would guess was 15 inches in diameter. Most of the members made the crossing alright, but two fell off the log into the stream and become completely soaked. And yet in spite of this condition the two enthusiastically continued to look for morels for the rest of the afternoon and except for their boots they were probably completely dry by the time we finished up.