Category: Obituaries

Elisabeth Vrba, who died last month at 82, did not set out to overturn the way scientists understood evolution. But her relentless inquiry, guided by a keen mathematical mind and a sharp eye for patterns in the fossil record, challenged some of Darwin’s most sacrosanct ideas. In a field where slow, incremental change had long […]

Dr. Ajith Kumar, a distinguished wildlife biologist, mentor, and educator, dedicated his life to the study and conservation of India’s biodiversity. His research and leadership over four decades shaped the landscape of wildlife science in the country, particularly through his work on primates and small carnivores, as well as his instrumental role in training future […]

Francisco Marupa did not die as he lived.  He had spent his years as a guardian of the forests and rivers of the Madidi National Park in Bolivia, walking its ancient paths as his ancestors had before him. His voice carried the weight of centuries, speaking for the Leco people, for the trees felled in […]

Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them. His parents, American missionaries, had come to translate the Bible into the Cofán language, but their eldest son took to the forest as though it were written into […]

Vimla Bahuguna, who spent a lifetime defending India’s forests, empowering women, and championing the rights of the poor, died on February 14th, at the age of 93. Her passing, four years after that of her husband, the renowned environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, marks the gentle passing of a woman whose work was neither loud nor self-promotional […]

Kallur Balan did not seek recognition. He did not write books, nor command the podium at international climate summits. His work was quieter, the slow and unglamorous toil of one man against the arid land. But when he died on Monday, aged 75, the forests he left behind spoke for him. The hills of Palakkad, […]

Mikkel Larsen, who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 50, was a rare breed of executive: a practical idealist who believed that finance could be harnessed to heal the planet. As the former Chief Executive Officer of Climate Impact X (CIX), a Singapore-based carbon exchange, he worked to bring integrity and credibility to voluntary […]

James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th president of the United States, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100 years old. Known to the world as Jimmy Carter, his presidency was marked by foresight, humility, and an enduring commitment to the environment that would define his legacy long after he left […]

Elva Gemita, a steadfast advocate for wildlife and forest conservation in Indonesia, passed away on November 24 at the age of 44. Born and raised near Kerinci Seblat National Park, she developed an early connection with the biodiversity that would define her life’s work. Her career began in the forests of Jambi Province, dismantling illegal […]

David Bonderman, who died on Wednesday at the age of 82, was best known as a titan of private equity, acclaimed for turning undervalued companies into lucrative ventures. Over decades, his sharp instincts and strategic acumen at TPG Capital—formerly Texas Pacific Group—yielded control of firms as diverse as Continental Airlines, J. Crew, and Petco. His […]

In the gathering dusk of December 4th, Chhoeung Chheng, a Cambodian journalist with a dogged commitment to exposing illegal logging, was shot near Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary. He succumbed to his injuries three days later, his body failing to withstand the assault from a homemade gun. It was a weapon often wielded by poachers but, […]

The last wild Round Island hurricane palm, Dictyosperma album var. conjugatum, met its end in a gusty September storm, snapping the final thread tethering this rare tree to its native soil. For decades, it stood alone on its windswept perch on Round Island, a 1.7-square-kilometer dot off the coast of Mauritius. With its pale blue […]

Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, known to friends and comrades as “Lobo,” or “Wolf,” was no stranger to the forces that threatened his land and his people. The son of Colombia’s Andes, he belonged to a long line of Indigenous Nasa defenders and was a dedicated educational coordinator and leader. But in a country labeled as […]

Ryan Killackey, who died on October 4th, aged 46, was a man of singular purpose. Born in Homewood, Illinois, he came of age with a fascination for nature that would eventually drive him to the farthest reaches of the Amazon rainforest. But his was no simple journey of exploration or adventure; it was a pursuit […]

In 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared 21 species officially extinct by removing them from list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. I recently put together short obituaries for a few of the species we lost. Amidst the dense, lush undergrowth of Kauaʻi’s rainforests, where the dampness held the whispers of […]

On August 5th, the conservation world mourned the death of Alan Rabinowitz, an American zoologist celebrated as the ‘Indiana Jones of wildlife protection’ by Time magazine. He passed away at 64 after a battle with cancer. Rabinowitz’s legacy testifies to a life spent in unwavering commitment to safeguarding the planet’s most majestic and vulnerable species, […]