Luc Hoffmann

Luc Hoffmann was born in Basel, the second son of the businessman and art-lover Emanuel Hoffmann and the sculptor Maja Hoffmann-Stehlin.Amerikanische Schweizer Zeitung, New York, 26 October 1932. The following year, Luc's older brother died of leukemia.

His widowed mother remarried, to Swiss composer Paul Sacher."[http://www.economist.com/node/322413 Paul Sacher]", The Economist, 3 June 1999. Retrieved 21 August 2012. Despite the family's great wealth, Hoffmann was raised frugally. His enthusiasm for the natural world developed during his childhood and he spent much of his free time bird watching in the Basel area. His first academic paper, "Der Durchzug der Strandvögel in der Umgebung Basels" (The passage of seabirds in the vicinity of Basel) appeared in Der Ornithologische Beobachter (The Bird Observer) in 1941, when he was still a schoolboy.Lukas Hoffmann and Hugo Wyss (1941) "Der Durchzug der Strandvögel in der Umgebung Basels", Der Ornithologische Beobachter, pp. 144-160.

In 1941, Hoffman enrolled at the University of Basel, studying botany and zoology. In 1943 he was conscripted into the Swiss Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant.

After the end of the Second World War, Hoffmann conducted scientific research and earned a doctorate (PhD) for his work on the different colour patterns of the chicks of the common tern (Sterna hirundo) in the Camargue on the Mediterranean coast of France.Hans Lukas Hoffmann (1953) "Form und Entstehung des Zeichnungsmusters dunenjunger Flußseeschwalben (Sterna hirundo)" Rev. Suisse Zool. Vol 60 pp. 653–706. His supervisor at the University of Basel was Adolf Portmann.

In 1947, Hoffmann bought an estate in the Camargue. In 1954 he established the Tour du Valat biological research station on it."[http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur A word from the founder] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818213654/http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur |date=18 August 2011 }}" Official Tour du Valat site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. The continued presence of greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) in France has been attributed to conservation work conducted at Tour du Valat. Hoffmann also supported breeding of Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) nearby and the reintroduction of the indigenous animals to their native Mongolia in 2004."[http://www.takh.org/contact.html Association pour le Cheval de Przewalski] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331030240/http://www.takh.org/contact.html |date=31 March 2013 }}" Official TAKH site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.

Generations of ecologists have trained at Tour du Valat, including John Krebs. More than 60 Ph.D.s have been awarded for research conducted at Tour du Valat by students enrolled at universities in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |url=http://www.umweltjournal.de/AfA_sonstiges/13025.php |title=WWF-Mitbegründer Luc Hoffmann für Lebenswerk geehrt |access-date=14 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818220031/http://www.umweltjournal.de/AfA_sonstiges/13025.php |archive-date=18 August 2016 |url-status=dead }} From 1953 to 1996, Hoffmann was on the board of Hoffmann-la Roche.{{ill|Hans Conrad Peyer|de}} (1996) Roche: A Company History 1896 to 1996. Roche p. 167 {{ISBN|3-907770-59-5}}.

With Peter Scott, Julian Huxley, Max Nicholson and others, Hoffmann became a founder member in 1961 of the World Wildlife Fund.Alexis Schwarzenbach (2011) Saving the World's Wildlife: WWF, the First 50 Years. Profile Books, p. 42, {{ISBN|978-1846685309}} He was appointed as its vice-president at the inaugural meeting and served in that role until 1988. He was made vice-president emeritus in 1998. Hoffmann helped establish the Doñana National Park in Andalusia in 1963."[http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/history/sixties/ WWF in the 1960s]" Official WWF site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. He also helped set up the national appeal in Austria in 1963. In the 1980s he served as president of the French national appeal.

Hoffmann was one of the founding fathers of the Ramsar Convention,Geoffrey Matthews (1993) "[http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-pubs-books-ramsar-convention-on-21313/main/ramsar/1-30-101%5E21313_4000_0__ The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Its History and Development]", Ramsar Convention Bureau, {{ISBN|2-940073-00-7}} one of the first intergovernmental treaties to protect the environment. The convention aims to conserve wetlands: land that is permanently or periodically covered by shallow water and which typically hosts migratory birds. Some 160 countries"[http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-about-parties-parties/main/ramsar/1-36-123%5E23808_4000_0__ Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209222528/http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-about-parties-parties/main/ramsar/1-36-123%5E23808_4000_0__ |date=9 February 2013 }}" Official Ramsar Convention Bureau site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. have so far contracted to protect their wetlands under the convention, which was devised in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

In 1994, Hoffmann established the MAVA Foundation, which distributes grants for nature conservation in the Mediterranean, the west coast of Africa and the Alps."[http://en.mava-foundation.org/?page_id=2 Learn more about the foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710120003/http://en.mava-foundation.org/?page_id=2 |date=10 July 2012 }}" Official MAVA Foundation site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. Yolande Clergue's original ambition to create a Fondation Van Gogh was given new momentum by Luc Hoffmann, who established a permanent framework in 2008 called Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles for activities designed to preserve the memory of Vincent van Gogh in Arles and to foster contemporary art.

In 2012, The MAVA Foundation and WWF International established the Luc Hoffmann Institute to honour the conservation legacy of Luc Hoffmann. The Institute focuses on catalyzing new scientific ideas to solve this century's increasingly complex and interconnected conservation challenges. His son, André Hoffmann, is on the Institute's Advisory Board.[http://luchoffmanninstitute.org/about/our-strategy/ Luc Hoffmann Institute About Us], [http://luchoffmanninstitute.org/about/advisory-board/ Luc Hoffmann Institute Advisory Board]. Retrieved 22 July 2016.

Hoffmann also made significant contributions to nature conservation in: the Neusiedler See in Austria; the Hortobágy National Park in Hungary; the Prespa region that straddles Greece, Albania and Macedonia;"[http://www.wwf.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=84&Itemid=107 Society for the Protection of Prespa] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709204133/http://www.wwf.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=84&Itemid=107 |date=9 July 2011 }}" Official WWF-Greece site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. and the Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania."[http://www.lafiba.org/index.php/fr/la_fondation La Fondation]" Official La Fondation Internationale du Banc d'Arguin site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.

In 2003, a major endowment in honour of Hoffmann's eightieth birthday provided for establishment of the Luc Hoffmann Chair in Field Ornithology at Oxford University's Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology.{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/luc-hoffmann-who-helped-start-the-world-wildlife-fund-for-nature-dies-at-93/2016/07/26/d751e412-534f-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html|title=Luc Hoffmann, who helped start the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, dies at 93|agency=Associated Press|date=July 26, 2016|via=www.washingtonpost.com}}

• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Basel (2001)
• Euronature-Environmental Prize (2007)
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1973)Catherine Borras, "AAAS Council Meeting, 1981", Science, 27 February 1981, Vol. 211, No. 4485, p. 922.
• Chevalier of the National Order of the Légion d'honneur (1989)"[http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur Download CV Luc Hoffmann] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818213654/http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur |date=18 August 2011 }}" Official Tour du Valat site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
• Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal, awarded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (1998)"[http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/history/duke_of_edinburgh_conservation_medal/ The Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725110145/http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/history/duke_of_edinburgh_conservation_medal/ |date=25 July 2014 }}" Official WWF site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
• John C Phillips Medal, awarded by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (2004)."[http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/john_c__phillips_medal_recipients.pdf Recipients of the John C. Phillips Memorial Medal for distinguished service in international conservation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920091445/https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/john_c__phillips_medal_recipients.pdf |date=20 September 2012 }}" Official IUCN site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
• Honorary Doctorate Degree from Business School Lausanne (2013)

Hoffmann's grandfather, Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, founded the company Hoffmann-La Roche in 1896. He was the son of industrialist Emanuel "Manno" Hoffmann (1896–1932) and sculptor Maja born Stehlin (1896–1989), and the brother of Vera Oeri-Hoffmann.[http://www.stroux.org/patriz_f/stQV_f/HfM_r.pdf Genealogical tree of the Hoffmann family.]

Hoffman's family is the majority shareholder in the pharmaceuticals company Hoffmann-La Roche. He used his wealth to endow the MAVA Foundation,"[http://en.mava-foundation.org/?page_id=19 MAVA's beginnings]" Official MAVA foundation site. Retrieved 21 August 2012. which funds nature conservation projects worldwide. He was a chevalier of the National Order of the Légion d'honneur and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science."[http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur Download CV Luc Hoffmann] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818213654/http://en.tourduvalat.org/la_tour_du_valat/la_fondation/le_mot_du_fondateur |date=18 August 2011 }}" Official Tour du Valat site. Retrieved 21 August 2012.

In 1953, in Vienna, Hoffmann married Daria Razumovsky (1925-2002),"Daria Hoffmann 1925-2002" the second child of Count Andreas Razumovsky and Princess Katharina Nikolajevna Sayn-Wittgenstein, who fled Russia in 1918 after the October Revolution. Together they had four children: Vera, Maja, André, and Daschenka.

{{reflist}}

• [http://luchoffmanninstitute.org/ Luc Hoffmann Institute]
• [http://en.mava-foundation.org/ MAVA Foundation]

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