Chuck Buck, chairman of Buck Knives and a long-time member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame©, passed away Friday. He was 78.

One of the most revered and admired of all factory knife industry executives, Buck had been suffering from poor health for a few years. However, as recently as the summer of 2013 he ignored health concerns and appeared at the 25th annual anniversary of the Buck Collectors Club Inc., shaking hands with club members, attending the club’s banquet along with his wife of so many years, Lori, and otherwise enjoying himself during the celebration.

Please keep the Buck family in your prayers, stressed the Buck Collector Club’s Larry Oden. “Obviously, there are also many Buck Knives employees who are greatly saddened by Chuck’s passing,” he noted. “He was loved by so many and was a highly respected man. The entire cutlery world has lost an icon.”

“It is with heavy hearts that we regret to inform everyone that we have lost a legend,” Buck Knives, Inc., noted in a statement on its Facebook page. “[Mr. Buck] was an industry icon and friend to all.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those touched by this industry giant. Legacy planning for a company is always difficult; many companies do not survive the transition to the second generation, fewer still the third. Chuck was the grandson of company founder Hoyt Buck. It is a testimony to his leadership that the company remains strong today, still widely respected under the fourth-generation leadership of Chuck’s son, Buck Knives President and CEO CJ Buck.”

Along with his father, fellow Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Al Buck, Chuck was a member of Buck’s board of directors appointed after the company was incorporated in 1961. Three short years later the Buck 110 folding hunter was introduced and the factory knife industry would never be the same. The Buck 110 just celebrated its golden anniversary last year.

A Celebration of Life for Chuck Buck will be held at 2 p.m. PST on Friday, Feb. 13, in Post Falls at Real Life Ministries Church. The service will be open to the public. Real Life is located at 1866 North Cecil Road, Post Falls, ID 83854/ 208-777-7325.

The family also will have a memorial service in San Diego, California, on May 13. Chuck was born on May 13, 1936. He will be laid to rest in his family plot there. More details are to come on the memorial. It also will be open to the public.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse,  www.samaritanspurse.org, or by calling 1-800-528-1980. Please ask that the call be directed to donations in honor of Charles T. Buck.