Charles 'Andy' Fuller was a mega-volunteer

Charles "Andy" Fuller made enough money in the bond business to retire early. He then worked for free for 29 years at Courage Center in Golden Valley.

Fuller, 80, volunteered more than 5,000 hours at the nonprofit center as a tour guide, photography teacher and board of directors member. He died June 27 from a stroke at an assisted living home in Minneapolis.

Fuller was a nature lover, and last fall he became the first person in Minnetonka to create a conservation easement that will ensure the 6.4 acres of oak woods and wetlands around his one-acre home site will never be developed. He and his wife, Priscilla, who died in 2006, were members of the Nature Conservancy's chapter in Minnesota. They lived since 1966 on their parcel, which had deer, turkeys and an occasional fox.

"It's kind of like a little wildlife preserve," Fuller told the Star Tribune after joining the city conservation program in September.

When he was a teenager, polio withered his left arm, but that didn't hinder him much. He graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio and became a municipal bond trader. He retired in the late 1970s at 49, said his stepdaughter Lark Lewis of Minnetonka.

"His family encouraged him to not let the disability stop him, and he wanted to pass that along to others," Lewis said. "He felt Courage Center ... was the place to do that."

She added that he "had an interest in history and fairness. He wanted things to be equal, to make sure everyone was included that could be."

Fuller's many skills and a gift for telling stories made him a great tour guide, said Gail Peterson, volunteer services director for Courage Center. He started the tour program and camera club decades ago, she said.

"He was very witty and extremely articulate," Peterson said. "He really believed that Courage Center lived their mission to reach out to people with disabilities and help them have the best quality and most independence possible in their lives."

Fuller, who traveled widely, also started the center's international committee and gave tours to visiting dignitaries. "Andy was the one who could show Courage Center the way it is seen through volunteer and disability eyes," she said. "I call him our ambassador."

Courage Center sent its ambassador to Washington in 1990. Fuller accepted an award for the organization's outstanding volunteer program, and he shook hands with President George H.W. Bush, Peterson said.

He also received Courage Center's lifetime award in 2006 for the depth of his service, she said. He was on the center's board from 1997 to 2003, and since then he had been on the center's Foundation Board, which manages its investments. He served until his stroke a few weeks ago.

"What you do as a volunteer for a cause you believe in will challenge you, make you stretch and help you grow. In so many ways, you will gain far more than you give. The greatest gift you can give is yourself. It also happens to be the greatest gift you can give to yourself."

Besides Lewis, Fuller is survived by his four other stepchildren, Stephanie Brody of Minneapolis; Priscilla Garvan of Sandpoint, Idaho; Sherry Lewis of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Hanley Lewis of Chanhassen; and three grandchildren. Private services will be held.