SCI Statement on the Passing of Mary Cabela
Safari Club International and its global membership joins the entire outdoor sporting and conservation world to mourn the loss of Mary Cabela, who passed away Tuesday May 30th.
Most in the hunting, angling, and conservation communities knew Mary Cabela for her role in co-founding the iconic sporting goods store, Cabela’s, with her husband Dick Cabela in 1961. The couple’s staggering success allowed them to have an impact on the outdoors that few could have predicted, including transforming the Cabela Family Foundation into a juggernaut force for long term wildlife and environmental sustainability both in the U.S and in Africa.
Her steadfast dedication to protecting the right to hunt while doing right by wildlife and communities brought her numerous prestigious awards which included but were not limited to the 2023 Beretta & SCI Foundation Conservation Leadership Award, the SCI Diana Award, and the 2021 NRA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mary Cabela’s achievements, however, were also counted outside of her roles as a businesswoman, sportswoman, and conservationist. She was a beloved family woman (having loved and mentored nine children, 22 grandchildren, 27 great grandchildren), a loving wife to Dick Cabela with whom she shared adventures too numerous to count, and a steadfast woman of faith.
SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin said in remembrance of Mary, “While we mourn her loss today, I take comfort in knowing that her memory has set an aspirational example for hunters, conservationists, and the outdoor community that will outlive us all.”