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• Greg Danke, RF middle school asst. principal dies; services planned Tuesday

Greg Danke, popular assistant principal at the River Falls Middle School, died suddenly Friday night of an apparent heart attack at River Falls Area Hospital.

Danke, 49, is survived by his wife, Cindi, and two adult children, Zach, a 2004 River Falls High School graduate, and Hanna, who graduated in June of this year.

"Greg is being remembered as a highly respected, dedicated, passionate and well-loved educator, as well as truly an endless advocate for children," said a statement posted about his death on the River Falls School District web site Saturday afternoon.

Funeral arrangements are pending with the Hill Funeral Home in River Falls. A public visitation is planned for 1 to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 12th at the River Falls High School auditorium with a service of celebration to follow at 4:30 p.m., according to the Hill Funeral Service web site (www.hillfuneralservice.com).

Danke joined the staff of the River Falls School district in 2000 as an assistant principal.

During an administrative shake-up in 2002, Danke became principal at Meyer for four years before returning to the assistant's role with the arrival of current principal Mike Johnson in 2006.

Previous, he served as principal of the Pepin Area School, a 7-12th grade school near Durand for 11 years. He also served as athletic director there for six years and coached football, wrestling and track at Pepin.

He was a 1983 graduate of UW-River Falls, was hired as assistant principal at the middle school to replace Barry Cain who moved to the Ellsworth School District and has since become superintendent of schools there.

At UW-RF, Danke earned a degree in life science-biology and then went on to earn a masters degee in educational administration at Winona State University.

Cindi Danke has served as River Falls director of parks and recreation for more than 20 years.

Outside of education and family, Danke was an avid outdoorsman -- enjoying hunting and fishing. He was also a certified Wisconsin DNR hunter education instructor, assisting in teaching the semi-annual course held at the middle school.