Richard Leakey

Richard Erskine Frere Leakey was born on 19 December 1944 in Nairobi.{{Cite news|last1=Lukpat|first1=Alyssa|last2=Chung|first2=Christine|date=2022-01-03|title=Richard Leakey, Kenyan Fossil Hunter and Conservationist, Dies at 77|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/africa/richard-leakey-dead.html|access-date=2022-01-03|issn=0362-4331}} As a small boy, Leakey lived in Nairobi with his parents: Louis Leakey, curator of the Coryndon Museum, and Mary Leakey, director of the Leakey excavations at Olduvai, and his two brothers, Jonathan and Philip.{{cite web|title= Richard E. Leakey Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org | publisher=Academy of Achievement | url=https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/}} The Leakey brothers had a very active childhood. All the boys had ponies and belonged to the Langata Pony Club.{{cite web |last1=Kashyap |first1=Nitin |title=Kenyan Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey Passed Away at 77 Family |url=https://www.uptobrain.com/richard-leakey-death-reason-kenyan-paleoanthropologist-richard-leakey-passed-away-at-77-family/ |website=Up To Brain |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 January 2022}} Sometimes the whole club were guests at the Leakeys' for holidays and vacations. Leakey's parents founded the Dalmatian Club of East Africa and won a prize in 1957.{{cite web |title=Louis Leakey, Famed Paleoanthropolgist and Dalmatian Fancier |url=https://nationalpurebreddogday.com/louis-leakey-famed-paleoanthropolgist-and-dalmatian-fancier/#:~:text=The%20Leakeys%20founded%20the%20Dalmatian,leopards%2C%20snakes%20and%20other%20dangers. |website=National Purebred Dog Day |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=5 August 2017}} Dogs and many other pets shared the Leakey home. The Leakey boys participated in games conducted by both adults and children, in which they tried to imitate early humans, catching springhare and small antelope by hand on the Serengeti. They drove lions and jackals from the kill to see if they could do it.{{cite book| first= Virginia| last= Morell| author-link= Virginia Morell| title= Ancestral Passions|year= 1995| chapter= 18: Richard Makes his Move}}

In 1956, aged eleven, Leakey fell from his horse, fracturing his skull and nearly dying as a result.{{cite web |last1=Stone |first1=Andrea |title=Richard Leakey, trailblazing conservationist and fossil hunter, dies at 77 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/richard-leakey-trailblazing-conservationist-and-fossil-hunter-dies-at-77 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102220913/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/richard-leakey-trailblazing-conservationist-and-fossil-hunter-dies-at-77 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 January 2022 |website=National Geographic |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=2 January 2022}} Incidentally, it was this incident that saved his parents' marriage. Louis was seriously considering leaving Mary for his secretary, Rosalie Osborn. As the battle with Mary raged in the household, Leakey begged his father from his sickbed not to leave. That was the deciding factor. Louis broke up with Rosalie and the family lived in happy harmony for a few years more.Morell, Virginia (1995). Chapter 17, "Chimpanzees and Other Loves", in Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings. {{ISBN|978-0684824703}}.

Leakey chose to support himself, borrowed £500 from his parents for a Land Rover and went into the trapping and skeleton supply business with Kamoya Kimeu.{{cite web |title=Fossil Finders: Kamoya Kimeu |url=https://leakeyfoundation.org/fossil-finders-kamoya-kimeu/ |website=The Leakey Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=13 April 2018}} Already a skilled horseman, outdoorsman, Land Rover mechanic, amateur archaeologist, and expedition leader,{{cite news |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Paul |title=Drive, Luck and the Leakey Genes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/10/03/drive-luck-and-the-leakey-genes/8c9410c9-b72b-45a4-bcc5-19c067790196/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 October 1978}} he learned to identify bones, skills which all pointed to a path he did not yet wish to take, simply because his father was on it.Richard E. Leakey in The Making of Mankind (1981), Chapter 1, p. 1, says he wished to be "free" of his parents' world, a sentiment both Louis and Mary must have understood very well, even though they opposed his freedom.

The bone business turned into a safari business in 1961.{{cite web |title=Portrait: Richard Leakey |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,565776,00.html |website=The Guardian |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=9 October 2001}} In 1962, he obtained a private pilot licence and took tours to the Olduvai Gorge.{{cite journal |last1=Lewin |first1=Roger |title=The Old Man of Olduvai Gorge |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-old-man-of-olduvai-gorge-69246530/ |journal=Smithsonian |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=October 2002|volume=33 |issue=7 |pages=82–88 |pmid=17211962 }} It was from a casual aerial survey that he noted the potential of Lake Natron's shores for palaeontology. He went looking for fossils in a Land Rover, but could find none, until his parents assigned Glynn Isaac to go with him.{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Bernard |title=A Very Special Archaeologist |url=https://cashp.columbian.gwu.edu/very-special-archaeologist |website=Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology |publisher=The George Washington University |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=5 October 2015}} Louis was so impressed with their finds that he gave them National Geographic money for a month's expedition.Morell, 1995, Chapter 18, "Richard Makes his Move." Besides Leakey and Glynn, the roster included Barbara Isaac, Philip Leakey, Hugo van Lawick and six of Mary's African assistants. They explored in the vicinity of Peninj near the lake, where Leakey was in charge of the administrative details. Bored, he returned to Nairobi temporarily, but at that moment, Kamoya Kimeu discovered a fossil of Australopithecus boisei. A second expedition left Leakey feeling that he was being excluded from the most significant part of the operation, the scientific analysis.

In 1964, on his second Lake Natron expedition, Leakey met an archaeologist named Margaret Cropper.{{cite web |title=Leakey, Richard |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/leakey-richard |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=3 January 2022}} When Margaret returned to England, Leakey decided to follow suit to study for a degree and become better acquainted with her. He completed his high school requirements in six months; meanwhile Margaret obtained her degree at the University of Edinburgh.{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/03/richard-leakey-obituary |website=The Guardian |access-date=4 January 2022 |language=en |date=3 January 2022}} He passed the entrance exams for admission to college, but in 1965 he and Margaret decided to marry and return to Kenya. His father offered him a job at the Centre for Prehistory and Palaeontology.{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey |url=https://ffrf.org/ftod-cr/item/14913-richard-leakey |website=Freedom from Religion Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en-gb}} He worked excavating at Lake Baringo and continued his photographic safari business, making enough money to buy a house in Karen, a pleasant suburb of Nairobi.{{cite web |last1=Church |first1=Lauren Belfer |title=A taste of paradise in the Kenyan wilderness |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0608/060859.html |website=Christian Science Monitor |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=8 June 1984}} Their daughter Anna was born in 1969, the same year that Leakey and Margaret divorced. He married his colleague Meave Epps in 1970 and they had two daughters, Louise (born 1972) and Samira (1974).{{cite web |last1=Lukpat |first1=Alyssa |last2=Chung |first2=Christine |title=Richard Leakey, Kenyan Fossil Hunter and Conservationist, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/africa/richard-leakey-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 January 2022 |date=3 January 2022}}

Richard formed the Kenya Museum Associates (now Kenya Museum Society) with influential Kenyans in 1955.{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.kenyamuseumsociety.org/about-us/ |website=Kenya Museum Society |access-date=4 January 2022}} They aimed to "Kenyanise" and improve the National Museum. They offered the museum £5000, one-third of its yearly budget, if it would place Leakey in a responsible position, and he became an observer on the board of directors.{{cite web |last1=Otieno |first1=David Okelo |title=A Protective Legislation, Policy and Practice of Archaeological Heritage Management in Kenya |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01149219/document |publisher=IUT des Pays de l'Adour |access-date=4 January 2022 |page=172 |date=27 November 2013}} Joel Ojal, the government official in charge of the museum, and a member of the Associates, directed the chairman of the board to start placing Kenyans on it.{{cite book |last1=Morell |first1=Virginia |title=Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKatWz1z3r8C&pg=PA297 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=11 January 2011|isbn=9781439143872 }}

Plans for the museum had not matured when Louis, intentionally or not, found a way to remove his confrontational son from the scene. Louis attended a lunch with Emperor Haile Selassie and President Jomo Kenyatta.{{cite web |last1=Lavine |first1=Greg |title=Skulls crown Ethiopia's place in evolutionary studies |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/healthscience/ci_2581199 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=22 February 2005}} The conversation turned to fossils, and the Emperor wanted to know why none had been found in Ethiopia. Louis developed this inquiry into permission to excavate on the Omo River.

The expedition consisted of three contingents: French, under Camille Arambourg, American, under F. Clark Howell, and Kenyan, led by Richard.{{cite journal |last1=Coppens |first1=Yves |title=Camille Arambourg et Louis Leakey ou un 1/2 siècle de paléontologie africaine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27918393 |journal=Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française |access-date=3 January 2022 |pages=291–323 |language=fr |date=1979|volume=76 |issue=10/12 |doi=10.3406/bspf.1979.5159 |jstor=27918393 |url-access=subscription }} Louis could not go because of his arthritis. Crossing the Omo in 1967, Leakey's contingent was attacked by crocodiles, which destroyed their wooden boat. Expedition members barely escaped with their lives. Richard radioed Louis for a new, aluminium boat, which the National Geographic Society was happy to supply.

On site, Kamoya Kimeu found a hominid fossil. Leakey took it to be Homo erectus, but Louis identified it as Homo sapiens.{{cite web |title=The Leakey Family |url=https://leakeyfoundation.org/about/the-leakey-family/#:~:text=The%20first%20significant%20hominid%20fossil,and%20called%20it%20Zinjanthropus%20boisei. |website=The Leakey Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022}} It was the oldest of the species found at that time, dating to 160,000 years, and was the first find contemporaneous with Homo neanderthalensis. During the identification process, Leakey came to feel that the college men were patronising him.This section is based on Morell, 1995, Chapter 20, "To the Omo".

During the Omo expedition of 1967, Leakey visited Nairobi and on the return flight the pilot flew over Lake Rudolph (renamed Lake Turkana from 1975) to avoid a thunderstorm.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Brian |title=The First Family of Paleoanthropology |url=https://www.stonybrook.edu/magazine/2016-spring/the-first-family-of-paleoanthropology |website=Stony Brook University |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=Spring 2016}} The map led Leakey to expect volcanic rock below him but he saw sediments. Visiting the region with Howell by helicopter, he saw tools and fossils everywhere. In his mind, he started formulating a new enterprise.

In 1968 Louis and Richard attended a meeting of the Research and Exploration Committee of the National Geographic Society to ask for money for Omo.{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Katie |title="I'M STILL ALIVE." |url=https://www.weareafricatravel.com/interviews/im-still-alive/ |website=We Are Africa |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=15 May 2017}} Catching Louis by surprise, Richard asked the committee to divert the $25,000 intended for Omo to new excavations to be conducted under his leadership at Koobi Fora. Richard won, but chairman Leonard Carmichael told him he'd better find something or never "come begging at our door again". Louis graciously congratulated Richard.

By that time the board of the National Museum was packed with Kenyan supporters of Richard. They appointed him administrative director.{{cite web |title=One Life |url=https://sites.google.com/a/or.books-now.com/en237/9780718122478-59tarmuGEpaji83 |access-date=3 January 2022}} The curator, Robert Carcasson, resigned in protest, and Leakey was left with the museum at his command, which he, like Louis before him, used as a base of operations.Morell, 1995, Chapter 21, "Breaking Away." Although there was friendly rivalry and contention between Louis and Richard, relations remained good. Each took over for the other when one was busy with something else or incapacitated, and Richard continued to inform his father immediately of hominid finds.

In the first expedition to Allia Bay on Lake Turkana, where the Koobi Fora camp came to be located, Leakey hired primarily young researchers. The students included John Harris and Bernard Wood.{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Frank |last2=Harris |first2=John |last3=Leakey |first3=Richard |last4=Walker |first4=Alan |title=Early Homo erectus skeleton from west Lake Turkana, Kenya |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/316788a0 |journal=Nature |access-date=3 January 2022 |pages=788–792 |language=en |doi=10.1038/316788a0 |date=August 1985|volume=316 |issue=6031 |pmid=3929141 |bibcode=1985Natur.316..788B |s2cid=4311887 |url-access=subscription }} Also present was a team of Africans under Kamoya: a geochemist, Paul Abel, and a photographer, Bob Campbell.{{cite web |title=Paul Abel and Richard Leakey Walking the Shores of Lake Turkana |url=https://vdocument.in/turkana-basin-institute-a-paul-abel-and-richard-leakey-walking-the-shores.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103044034/https://vdocument.in/turkana-basin-institute-a-paul-abel-and-richard-leakey-walking-the-shores.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=3 January 2022 |website=Turkana Basin Institute |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=3 February 2018}} Margaret was the archaeologist. In contrast to his father, Richard ran a disciplined and tidy camp, although, in order to find fossils, he did push the expedition harder than it wished.{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey, Academy Class of 2007, Part 2 |url=https://achievement.org/video/richard-leakey-2/ |website=Academy of Achievement |access-date=3 January 2022}}

In 1969 the discovery of a cranium of Paranthropus boisei caused great excitement.{{cite web |title=Paranthropus boisei: cranium |url=https://www.si.edu/object/3d/paranthropus-boisei-cranium:081d5e0b-7181-4ccb-bfbd-9f906930c620 |website=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en}} A Homo rudolfensis skull (KNM ER 1470) and a Homo erectus skull (KNM ER 3733), discovered in 1972 and 1975, respectively, were among the most significant finds of Leakey's earlier expeditions.{{cite web |title=Homo rudolfensis |url=https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-rudolfensis |website=The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en}} In 1978 an intact cranium of Homo erectus (KNM ER 3883) was discovered.

Donald Johanson and Leakey held different views about human evolution. They held a debate on Cronkite's Universe, a talk show hosted by Walter Cronkite, in 1981.{{Cite book|last=Lewin|first=Roger|title=Bones of Contention: Controversies in the Search for Human Origins|year=1987|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-671-52688-X|oclc=15520593|pages=13–14}}

File:Turkana boy - steps of forensic facial reconstruction.jpg

Turkana Boy, discovered by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of the Leakeys' team, in 1984, was the nearly complete skeleton of a Homo ergaster (though some, including Leakey, call it erectus) who died 1.6 million years ago at about age 9–12.{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey, Who Found 'Turkana Boy' Fossil, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-03/richard-leakey-who-found-turkana-boy-fossil-dies-at-77 |website=Bloomberg |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 January 2022}} Leakey and Roger Lewin describe the experience of this find and their interpretation of it, in their book Origins Reconsidered (1992).{{cite web |last1=Leakey |first1=Richard E. |last2=Lewin |first2=Roger |title=Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/98908/origins-reconsidered-by-richard-leakey-roger-lewin/ |website=Penguin Random House |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=1 October 1993}} Shortly after the discovery of Turkana Boy, Leakey and his team made the discovery of a skull (KNM WT 17000, known as "Black Skull") of a new species, Australopithecus aethiopicus (or Paranthropus aethiopicus).{{cite web |last1=Detjen |first1=Jim |title=Skull Piece Takes Man a Step Back |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-11-14-8603250949-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=14 November 1986}}

Richard shifted away from palaeontology in 1989, but his wife Meave Leakey and daughter Louise Leakey continue to conduct palaeontological research in Northern Kenya.{{cite web |title=Meave G. Leakey |url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/meave-g-leakey |website=National Geographic |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Paleontologist: Dr. Louise Leakey |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/real-world-geography-louise-leakey/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509020327/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/real-world-geography-louise-leakey/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 May 2020 |website=National Geographic |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=4 April 2012}}

File:Richard Leakey cropped.jpg

In 1989 Richard Leakey was appointed the head of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Department (WMCD) by President Daniel Arap Moi in response to the international outcry over the poaching of elephants and the impact it was having on the wildlife of Kenya.{{Cite web|website=Royal African Society|url=http://www.royalafricansociety.org/event/%E2%80%98kenya%E2%80%99s-wildlife-%E2%80%93-predictions-next-decade%E2%80%99-dr-richard-leakey|title='Kenya's wildlife – Predictions for the next decade' with Dr Richard Leakey|access-date=5 November 2016}} The department was replaced by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in 1990, and Leakey became its first chairman.{{cite web |title=Richard Erskine Leakey |url=https://www.aasciences.africa/fellow/richard-erskine-leakey |website=The African Academy of Sciences |access-date=3 January 2022}} With characteristically bold steps Leakey created special, well-armed anti-poaching units that were authorised to shoot poachers on sight.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvI-JTP35jMC&q=leakey|title=Lonely Planet Kenya|first1=Anthony|last1=Ham|first2=Stuart|last2=Butler|first3=Dean|last3=Starnes|publisher=Lonely Planet|year=2012|isbn=9781743213063}} The poaching menace was dramatically reduced. Impressed by Leakey's transformation of the Kenya Wildlife Service, the World Bank approved grants worth $140 million.{{cite web |title=Dr Richard Leakey: A swashbuckler with intent |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001433322/dr-richard-leakey-a-swashbuckler-with-intent |website=The Standard |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en}} Richard Leakey, President Moi, and the WMCD made the international news headlines when a stockpile of 12 tons of ivory was burned in 1989 in Nairobi National Park.{{cite web |last1=Perlez |first1=Jane |title=Kenya, In Gesture, Burns Ivory Tusks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/19/world/kenya-in-gesture-burns-ivory-tusks.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=19 July 1989}}

{{external media| float = left| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?17614-1/wildlife-policy-kenya Presentation by Leakey to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., "New Wildlife Policy for Kenya", April 18, 1991], C-SPAN}}

Richard Leakey's confrontational approach to the issue of human–wildlife conflict in national parks did not win him friends. His view was that parks were self-contained ecosystems that had to be fenced in and the humans kept out. Leakey's bold and incorruptible nature also offended many local politicians.{{Cite news|last=Perlez|first=Jane|date=7 January 1990|title=Can He Save the Elephants?|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/07/magazine/can-he-save-the-elephants.html|access-date=25 May 2020|issn=0362-4331}}

In 2016, Leakey was named Conservationist of the Year by The Perfect World Foundation and won "The Fragile Rhino" prize at the Elephant Ball in Gothenburg, Sweden.{{cite web |title=Another great legend awarded the world's most prestigious conservation prize |url=https://news.cision.com/climate-aid-world-forum/r/another-great-legend-awarded-the-world-s-most-prestigious-conservation-prize,c3466091 |website=Climate and World Forum |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=4 December 2021}}{{cite web |title=The Perfect World Award |url=https://issuu.com/theperfectworldmagazine/docs/the_perfect_world_magazine_english/s/10821636 |website=The Perfect World Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022}}

In 1993, a small propeller-driven plane piloted by Richard Leakey crashed, crushing his lower legs, both of which were later amputated. Sabotage was suspected but never proven.{{Cite web|title=Richard Leakey Tries to Save the Elephants—Again|url=https://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/05/richard-leakey-tries-save-elephants-again-267099.html|last=EDT|first=Graham Boynton On 08/28/14 at 6:33 AM|date=28 August 2014|website=Newsweek|language=en|access-date=25 May 2020}} While in the hospital, Leakey told President Moi, a religious man, not to pray for him, but act on matters pending for the Kenya Wildlife Service.Ryan Shaffer, [http://thehumanist.com/july-august-2012/evolution-humanism-and-conservation-the-humanist-interview-with-richard-leakey/ "Evolution, Humanism, and Conservation: The Humanist Interview with Richard Leakey"], The Humanist, 29 June 2012. Thereafter, Richard Leakey walked on artificial limbs. Around this time the Kenyan government announced that a secret probe had found evidence of corruption and mismanagement in the Kenya Wildlife Service. An annoyed Leakey resigned publicly in a press conference in January 1994.{{cite web |last1=Lorch |first1=Donatella |title=Noted Kenya Conservationist Resigning in a Political Storm |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/15/world/noted-kenya-conservationist-resigning-in-a-political-storm.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=15 January 1994}} He was replaced by David Western as the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service.{{cite web |title=Leakey Renamed KWS Director |url=https://www.awf.org/news/leakey-renamed-kws-director |website=African Wildlife Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=1 January 1998}}

Richard Leakey wrote about his experiences at the Kenya Wildlife Service in his book Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures (2001).{{cite book |last1=Leakey |first1=Richard |last2=Morell |first2=Virginia |title=Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIeWAwAAQBAJ |publisher=Macmillan |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=19 September 2001|isbn=9780312206260 }}

File:Richard Leakey 2015 (cropped).jpg

In May 1995, Richard Leakey joined some Kenyan intellectuals in launching a new political party – the Safina Party,{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey, Kenyan conservationist who campaigned against ivory trade, has died |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/richard-leakey-kenyan-conservationist-who-campaigned-against-ivory-trade-has-2022-01-02/ |website=Reuters |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=3 January 2022}} which in Swahili means "Noah's Ark". The Safina party was routinely harassed and even its application to become an official political party was not approved until 1997.{{cite web |title=Kenya: Current information on Safina Party, especially on arrests of its members in 1995 |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac974.html |website=Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=1 April 1996}}

{{external media| float = left| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?67504-1/origins-politics Presentation by Leakey to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., "Origins and Politics", October 6, 1995], C-SPAN}}

In 1997, international donor institutions froze their aid to Kenya because of widespread corruption.{{cite web |last1=Donaldson |first1=Andrew |title=Time for Zuma to read his obituary - OPINION {{!}} Politicsweb |url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/its-not-to-soon-to-publish-zumas-obituary |website=Politics Web |access-date=4 January 2022 |language=en |date=7 February 2020}} To placate the donors, Moi appointed Richard Leakey as Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service in 1999. Leakey's second stint in the civil service lasted two years.{{cite web |title=Richard E. Leakey |url=https://www.simonsfoundation.org/people/richard-e-leakey/ |website=Simons Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=10 January 2019}} He sacked 25,000 civil servants and obtained £250 million of funds from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/richard-leakey-obituary-ccmf6k9x2 |website=The Times |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=3 January 2022}} However, Leakey found himself sidelined after the money arrived, and his reforms were blocked in the courts. He was sacked from his cabinet post in 2001.{{cite news|last1=Astill|first1=James|title=African warrior|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,565776,00.html|work=The Guardian|date=9 October 2001|language=en}}

Leakey left Kenya for the U.S. in 2002 and became a professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University, New York.Stony Brook University, Press release, 27 March 2007: [http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/World-Renowned_Anthropologist_Richard_Leakey_to_be_Honored_at_Stony_Brook_University_s_50th_Anniversary_Gala_April_11.shtml "World-Renowned Anthropologist Richard Leakey to be Honored at Stony Brook University's 50th Anniversary Gala April 11".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608053402/http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/World-Renowned_Anthropologist_Richard_Leakey_to_be_Honored_at_Stony_Brook_University_s_50th_Anniversary_Gala_April_11.shtml |date=8 June 2010 }} He was also Chair of the Turkana Basin Institute.{{cite web |last1=Bjell |first1=Scott |title=About TBI |url=https://www.turkanabasin.org/about/ |website=Turkana Basin Institute |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=8 August 2016}} In 2004, Leakey founded and chaired WildlifeDirect, a Kenya-based charitable organisation.{{cite web |title=Tribute for Dr. Richard Leakey |url=https://wildlifedirect.org/portfolio-items/tribute-for-dr-richard-leakey/?portfolioCats=77 |website=WildlifeDirect |access-date=3 January 2022}} The charity was established to provide support to conservationists in Africa directly on the ground via the use of blogs. This enables individuals anywhere to play a direct and interactive role in the survival of some of the world's most precious species. The organisation played a significant role in the saving of the Democratic Republic of Congo's mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park in January 2007 after a rebel uprising threatened to eliminate the highly vulnerable population.

In April 2007, he was appointed interim chairman of Transparency International's Kenya branch. The same year, Leakey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society{{cite web|url = http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/about-us/fellowship/Fellows1660-2007.pdf| title = Royal Society- Fellows 1660–2007| publisher = Royal Society|access-date = 8 March 2012}} and received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}} In June 2013, Leakey was awarded the Isaac Asimov Science Award from the American Humanist Association.SmashPipe, 5 June 2013: [https://archive.today/20130624234603/http://science.smashpipe.com/?f=XeGlhASFV4M%23stop Humanist Awards Banquet of the 2013 American Humanist Conference]

Leakey's groundbreaking work contributed to the recognition of Africa as the birthplace of humankind, that contributed as evidence that the earliest humans had lived on the African continent. He was known to have spearheaded campaigns to stop poaching in Kenya. Aside from his contributions to public service, he was known to have contributed immensely to the civil service; "Besides his distinguished career in public service, Dr Leakey is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya's civil society where he founded and successfully ran a number of institutions," Mr Kenyatta said.{{Cite news |date=2022-01-03 |title=Richard Leakey: Kenyan conservationist dies aged 77 |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59855445 |access-date=2023-04-29}}

File:RichardLeakeyELA.jpg

In 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Leakey chairman of the board of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Although he was chairman rather than director, Leakey played an active role in KWS policies. He brokered a deal on the extension of the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, allowing the railway to pass over Nairobi National Park on an 18 m tall viaduct.{{cite news|last1=Njugunah|first1=Margaret|title=Kenya: SGR to Pass Over the Nairobi National Park|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201609141076.html|work=Capital FM (Nairobi)|date=14 September 2016}} Leakey felt that the viaduct would set an example for the rest of Africa in balancing economic development with environmental protection. However, other Kenyan conservationists have opposed railway construction in the park.{{cite news|last1=Kahumbu|first1=Paula|title=Opposing camps to hold dialogue on railway through Nairobi National Park|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/africa-wild/2016/oct/25/opposing-camps-to-hold-dialogue-on-railway-through-nairobi-national-park|work=The Guardian|date=25 October 2016|language=en}}

Angelina Jolie was to direct a film about Leakey's life, with Leakey in early 2016 expressing his confidence that the film would be shot in Kenya.{{cite news|last1=Boynton|first1=Graham|title=Richard Leakey: What does Angelina Jolie see in this man?|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11114617/Richard-Leakey-What-does-Angelina-Jolie-see-in-this-man.html|work=The Telegraph|date=23 September 2014}}

Leakey spoke fluent Kiswahili and moved effortlessly between white and black communities. While he rarely talked about race in public, racism and gender inequality infuriated him.{{Cite journal|last=Kahumbu|first=Paula|date=2022-02-18|title=Richard Leakey (1944—2022)|journal=Science|language=en|volume=375|issue=6582|pages=723|doi=10.1126/science.abo2200 |pmid=35175803 |bibcode=2022Sci...375..723K |s2cid=246942413 |issn=0036-8075|doi-access=free}} Leakey stated that he was an atheist{{cite book |last=Leakey |first=Richard E. |title=One Life: Richard E. Leakey: An Autobiography |date=1984 |publisher=Salem House Pub |isbn=978-0881620559 |page=38}} and a humanist.

Leakey came from a family of renowned archeologists. His mother, Mary Leakey, discovered evidence in 1978 that man walked upright much earlier than had been thought. She and her husband, Louis Leakey, unearthed skulls of ape-like early humans, shedding fresh light on our ancestors.{{Cite web |last=Siad |first=Arnaud |date=2022-01-02 |title=World-renowned Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey dies at 77 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/02/world/richard-leakey-death/index.html |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=CNN |language=en}}

Leakey was diagnosed with a terminal kidney disease in 1969. Ten years later he became seriously ill but received a kidney transplant from his brother, Philip, and recovered to full health.{{cite web |last1=Neuman |first1=Scott |date=3 January 2022 |title=Famed fossil hunter and conservationist Richard Leakey dies at 77 |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/01/03/1069888035/famed-fossil-hunter-and-conservationist-richard-leakey-dies-at-77 |access-date=4 January 2022 |website=NPR |language=en}}

He died at his home outside Nairobi, on 2 January 2022,Morell, Virginia, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/richard-leakeys-legacy-in-science-conservation-and-politics/ Richard Leakey's Legacy in Science, Conservation and Politics], Scientific American, January 11, 2022 less than a month after his 77th birthday.{{cite web|url=https://www.president.go.ke/2022/01/02/message-of-condolence-from-h-e-hon-uhuru-kenyatta-following-the-death-of-former-head-of-public-service-dr-richard-leakey/ |title=Message of Condolence from H.E Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta following the death of former Head of Public Service Dr Richard Leakey |first=Uhuru|last=Kenyatta |author-link=Uhuru Kenyatta |date=2 January 2021}}{{Cite web|date=2 January 2022|title=Renowned Kenyan conservationist Richard Leakey dies aged 77|url=https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220102-renowned-kenyan-conservationist-richard-leakey-dies-aged-77|access-date=2 January 2022|website=France 24|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/fossil-hunter-richard-leakey-who-showed-humans-evolved-in-africa-dies-at-77|title=Fossil hunter Richard Leakey who showed humans evolved in Africa dies at 77|website=TheGuardian.com|date=2 January 2022}} In accordance with his wishes, he was buried on a hill along the Rift Valley.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2022-01-03|title=Richard Leakey Laid To Rest On A Hill Along Rift Valley|url=https://citizenwitness.co.ke/index.php/2022/01/03/richard-leakey-laid-to-rest-on-a-hill-along-rift-valley/|access-date=2022-01-03|website=Citizen Witness|language=en}}

{{Leakey family tree}}

File:Richard Leakey (15202106600) (2) (cropped).jpg

Leakey's early published works include Origins and The People of the Lake (both with Roger Lewin as co-author), The Illustrated Origin of Species, and The Making of Mankind (1981).

• Origins (with Roger Lewin) (Dutton, 1977)
• People of the Lake: Mankind and its Beginnings (with Roger Lewin) (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978)
• Making of Mankind (Penguin USA, 1981)
• One Life: An Autobiography (Salem House, 1983)
• Origins Reconsidered (with Roger Lewin) (Doubleday, 1992)
• The Origin of Humankind (Perseus Books Group, 1994)
• The Sixth Extinction (with Roger Lewin) (Bantam Dell Pub Group, 1995)
• Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures (with Virginia Morell) (St. Martin's Press, 2001)

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of human evolution fossils (with images)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last1=Morell|first1=Virginia|author-link1=Virginia Morell|url=https://archive.org/details/ancestralpassion00more|url-access=registration|title=Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings|year=1995|isbn=0-684-80192-2|oclc=32310794}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.leakeyfoundation.org Leakey Foundation]
• [http://www.leakey.com Leakey.com]
• [http://www.kfrp.com/ Koobi Fora Research Project]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150908045546/http://richardleakey.wildlifedirect.org/ Richard Leakey's Blog on WildlifeDirect]
• [http://turkanabasin.org Turkana Basin Institute]
• {{discogs artist|Richard Leakey}}
• {{IMDb name|2611466}}

{{FRS 2007}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leakey, Richard}}

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Richard

Category:Non-fiction environmental writers

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