Family Tree Briggs » Aldo Starker Leopold (1913-1983)

Personal data Aldo Starker Leopold 

• He was born on October 22, 1913 in Burlington, Iowa.Sources 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
• Resident:
• in the year 1935: Madison, Wisconsin.Source 5
• on April 1, 1940: Howell, Howell, Missouri, USA.Source 5
• in the year 1931: Madison, Wisconsin, USA.Source 4
• in the year 1920: Albuquerque Ward 3, Bernalillo, New Mexico, Verenigde Staten.Source 1
• in the year 1930: Madison, Dane, Wisconsin, USA.Source 2
• He died on August 23, 1983 in Berkeley, Alameda, CA, he was 69 years old.Sources 3, 6
• A child of Aldo Leopold and Estella Bergere

Household of Aldo Starker Leopold

He is married to Grace Elizabeth Weiskotten.

They got married.

Child(ren):

1. (Not public)

Notes about Aldo Starker Leopold

«b»Aldo Starker Leopold, Zoology; Forestry and Conservation: Berkeley

«/b» 1913-1983 Professor of Zoology and Forestry, Emeritus Conservationist Emeritus, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Aldo Starker Leopold, outstanding naturalist, superb teacher, gifted author, and beloved companion to those who shared his campfires, died at his home in Berkeley on August 23, 1983.
Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa, the eldest son of Aldo and Estella Bergere Leopold. Boyhood exposure to his father's attainments led Starker, first to follow the elder Aldo's footsteps, and then to blaze his own trails to become one of the world's most influential and honored authorities on wildlife ecology and management.

He was educated at the University of Wisconsin, the Yale Forestry School, and the Department of Zoology at Berkeley, where he received the Ph.D. degree in 1944. After working in Mexico for the Conservation Section of the Pan-American Union, Leopold returned to Berkeley in 1946 as Assistant Professor of Zoology and Conservation in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. He became professor in 1957. In 1967, he became Professor of Zoology and Forestry and moved his headquarters to the latter Department where he remained until he retired in 1978.

Starker Leopold's gifts as a teacher are widely acknowledged. Students responded to his infectious enthusiasm for his field and knew him as an exacting taskmaster who expected their best. He had an unusual capacity to simplify the complex. For those aspects of wildlife ecology that might seem overwhelmingly difficult to young students, he provided easily understood models. He had a rare ability to combine scientific theory and facts with keen personal observations throughout the world's most important wildlife habitats. His courses attracted many non-major students, many of whom described them (and the professor) as "among the best in the University."

He displayed deep personal interest in his students' welfare. Whatever activity he might be engaged in when a student came to see him, he put it aside to give his visitor individual attention. For many of them, initial contacts at Berkeley became lifelong professional and personal friendships.

Many in the wildlife field relied on Leopold for help with their more difficult problems. As a result, he was heavily involved in public policy matters at the highest level. In 1968, the Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management of the Department of Interior, which he chaired, produced reports which led directly to significant new policies for the National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges. Similarly, in 1972, through membership on a subsequent Advisory Committee on Predator Control, his views were remarkably effective in changing federal policy toward predatory animals. Earlier he did highly influential consulting on aspects of wildlife conservation policy with the National Parks in Tanzania, with the Missouri Conservation Department, and the Mexican Game Department. His effectiveness in the public policy arena was a demonstration of his ability to teach at all levels, from undergraduate students to those with the largest governmental and business responsibilities. His influence on this broader scene is reflected in his service as a Trustee and for two terms as President of the California Academy of Sciences, and as a Director and Vice President of the Sierra Club. He was vigorously engaged in such public service activities almost to the day of his death.

As an author, Leopold's publications will have enduring value. His books, «i»Wildlife in Alaska«/i» (with F. F. Darling) (1953), «i»Wildlife of Mexico: The Game Birds and Mammals«/i» (1959), «i»The Desert«/i» (1961), and «i»The California Quail«/i» (1977), brought together the results of his years of research on these topics. «i»North American Game Birds and Mammals«/i» (1982) (with R. Guttierez and M. Bronson) will, no doubt, become a standard reference and textbook for wildlife management. More than a hundred periodical articles and technical reports display his versatility in writing, with rigor and clarity, on the many scientific topics on which he reported, and with insight and humanity in occasional but thought-provoking philosophical pieces. Even his technical books catch your attention with the first paragraph and carry you along with their clear and captivating style.

Leopold's outstanding scientific stature was confirmed with his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970. Other recognitions were a Department of Interior Conservation Award, the Aldo Leopold Medal of the Wildlife Society, the Audubon Society Medal, the Browning Medal of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Fellows Medal of the California Academy of Sciences.

Starker's contributions to the University included service as Associate Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (1958-65), Assistant to the Berkeley Chancellor (1960-63), and director of the Sagehen Creek Field Station (1965-78). His influence on academic affairs was often both subtle and potent. With colleagues from other departments, he developed an interdepartmental Ph.D. program in natural resource conservation long before the field became a highly popular one. Following transfer to the Department of Forestry and Conservation in 1967, he worked for the further development of professional education in wildlife biology and management and for closer integration of wildlife, range management, and forestry at Berkeley. He had strong influence in the 1970s on changes in forestry curricula to serve better concerns for the conservation of natural environments, and on recruiting faculty with the breadth to deal with the entire spectrum of forest resources. His voice was always firmly in support of a liberal concept of professional education.

He had a capacity for bridging gaps between preservationists and managers, liberals and conservatives, hunters and anti-hunters--a talent which served the academic community well in resolving basic issues of educational policy. He kept his eyes on his main goal, a world suited to wildlife and therefore fit for people. The quality of his service to the University was recognized when he was awarded the Berkeley Citation on his retirement.

Despite the eminence of his academic and scientific achievements, Starker will no doubt be remembered longest by students, colleagues, and friends, for his personal qualities. Love of the outdoors, great personal warmth, sensitivity to others, profound appreciation and respect for the intricate beauty of nature: these were characteristics which knit his life to those of his legions of friends and intimately personal ways. A superb raconteur, he always had a positive outlook and an inexhaustible zest for life, which he lived completely. Anyone who camped with him appreciated his skills in making camp life comfortable. His artistry with a dutch oven, his insistence on maintaining such amenities as the bath and the sundowner in the face of obstacles, and his complete awareness and understanding of the natural world around him, gave new meaning and enjoyment to outdoor life for all who shared it with him.

Professor Leopold is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, a son, Frederick, a daughter, Sarah Kock, two sisters, two brothers, and three grandsons.
On fall outings, the nightly appearance of the Pleiades was Starker's signal it was time for sleep. Last August 23rd, the Pleiades rose for him for the last time. «i»Requiescat in pace«/i».

H. J. Vaux R. F. Dasmann D. R. McCullough W. W. Middlekauff W. C. Russell D. E. Teeguarden

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Timeline Aldo Starker Leopold

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