Kenyan conservationist and palaeoanthropologist Richard Leakey, acknowledged for his distinguished contributions to conservation and public service, has died aged 77.
Leakey, a fearless opponent of the ivory trade who spearheaded campaigns to save the dwindling African elephant population, served in various roles in the government, including as director of the state-run National Museums of Kenya and twice as board chair at the Kenya Wildlife Service.
He also served as the head of Kenya’s civil service from July 1999 to March 2001. Fighting corruption was a key theme of his tenure.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said Leakey had ‘served our country with distinction’.
Leakey was the son of palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, whose work helped demonstrate that human evolution began in Africa. He was celebrated for his work to save wildlife from poachers and for leading campaigns against the ivory trade.
Reuters quoted Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist who had been mentored by Leakey, as saying: ‘Very courageous, he was a person who stood for integrity whether it was in wildlife conservation, whether it was related to archaeological and paleoanthropological research at museums or whether it was related to politics.’
BusinessLive reported that at the time of his death Leakey was serving as chair of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University in the US, which works to facilitate research and education in palaeontology and archaeology in northern Kenya.
[Image: Pierre-Selim, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35771649]