Max O. Shemwell Jr ., a Tucson area insurance agent whose love of the racing Ozark rivers of his youth was transplanted to the jarring dusty rush of Arizona mountain bike trails, died March 28 of complications of brain surgery.

Shemwell, 61, was a partner of Tucson Insurance Associates – a professional path traveled by his father, Max Sr., and grandfather Kit Karson Shemwell in Doniphan, Mo., starting in 1908.

"Maybe it's genetics," he recalled on the firm's website, recounting how his grandfather went by horseback to his clients in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Rodriguez), a long-time educator in the Marana Unified School District; daughter, Eliza, 23, of Flagstaff; and son, Ryan, 21, of Tucson. Other survivors include a brother John (Patricia), of San Diego; and sisters Susan (Joseph) Swickard, of Grosse Pointe, MI, and Amy (Daniel) Erickson, of Interlaken, NY. His Tucson in-laws are Edidtsa (John) Michel and Jesse (Jacque Salgado) Rodriguez.

Born and raised in a small town surrounded by the Mark Twain National Forest, Shemwell grew up in jon boats and canoes coursing around snags and gravel bars on the Current River and other fast-running hill streams around Doniphan.

Max was action – rolling and riding, laughing and loving, said his wife Elizabeth.

Shemwell started his insurance career soon after graduating from the University of Arizona in 1982. His heritage and Ozark roots quickly surfaced in a story he shared with great animation about a walk-in customer who was new in town.

Max asked: Where did you move here from?

Customer: Missouri.

Max: Well, I'm from Missouri. What town are you from?

Customer: Doniphan.

Max: Well, I'm from Doniphan.

The man gave a wary look, because what are the odds of meeting someone from the tiny hill town. This guy really wants to sell a policy.

Max: Who was your insurance agent?

Customer: Max Shemwell.

Max: Well, I'm Max Shemwell!

Max quickly soothed the seething client, explaining he was Max, Jr. -- a hometown kid who'd relocated to the Southwest.

Max graduated from the University of Arizona in 1982, and within a year, began his insurance career in Tucson.  After more than 25 years with Allstate Insurance he became an independent agent. He and Gary Nash founded Tucson Insurance Associates and were later joined by Andy McEldowney.

The youngest child of insurance agent Max Sr. and Margaret (McCluskey), then a homemaker and newspaper and wire service correspondent, Shemwell shared his family's love of the surrounding woods and rivers and its devotion to preserving region's natural heritage.

"I love just about any outdoor activity," Shemwell wrote in his professional profile. "I am an avid mountain biker and hiker and I support many fine organizations and non-profits that promote multi-use trail access, expansion, and maintenance. On weekends, you're likely to spot me biking or hiking somewhere in the Tortolita Mountains."

He often spoke of the beauty of the desert and mountains – and loved his home in Marana with its patio flush with desert plantings, said Elizabeth: "Max would take walks and point out the trails he'd taken. We loved the desert – totally."

Max also loved history, Elizabeth said, with deep and wide readings so he could add to almost any conversation.

With both love the desert and history, Elizabeth said, he relished exploration: "He would take a new path just to see what he could find out."

Elizabeth found it wonderful that Max was so proud of his mother and enjoyed telling stories about her.

But he could be aggravating: "I'd get so mad, but then he could make me laugh. And that would tickle him so that he could make me laugh and he'd start laughing, too."

Max was also ready to reach out to strangers, Elizabeth said, as the time while driving with the family he noticed a blind man trying to negotiate the traffic at the intersection of Ina and Oracle.

"He pulled over and walked that man across both streets," Elizabeth said. "He noticed something that needed to be done. He just saw those things."

Diagnosed with benign brain tumor in February, he underwent surgery and was able to return to work on a limited schedule by late March.

Max was fatally stricken at a doctor's office during a routine follow-up visit.

A family remembrance was held at his home.