Hays ? A former Fort Hays State University professor and director of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History has died.

Jerry Choate was 66. The Hays Daily News reported that he died Wednesday night in Denver of cancer.

Choate and his wife, Fi, were staying at the home of their only son, Judd Choate, awaiting gene therapy trial for melanoma.

Judd Choate told the Hays newspaper that tumors in his dad’s brain “were too many and too large, leaving no options for treatment.”

Jerry Choate worked for Fort Hays for nearly 40 years before retiring in June. He also served a stint as the director of the Museum of the High Plains.