Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr. (15 January 1887 – 16 September 1969), was an American conservationist. He was longtime president of the New York Zoological Society (today known as the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological ...

Biography

Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr. was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of wh ...

in 1887. Born into the wealthy and influential Osborn family, he was the son of

Henry Fairfield Osborn Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist, geologist and eugenics advocate. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years and a cofounder of the American Eugen ...

, a prominent paleontologist,

eugenicist Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

and "distinguished Aryan enthusiast". After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, he went on to study biology at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, but then pursued a career in international business. Towards the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he served briefly as a Captain in the United States Army, after which he returned to private enterprise. In 1935, he retired from business and devoted himself to environmental causes and especially to the New York Zoological Society (today known as the

). Following his election to the Society's board in 1923, he served as its Secretary from 1935 to 1940. In 1940, he became President of the New York Zoological Society, a role he held for 28 years. Osborn wrote ''

Our Plundered Planet ''Our Plundered Planet'' is a book published in 1948 by Fairfield Osborn about environmental destruction by humankind. With a focus on soil, the book is a critique of humankind's poor stewardship of Earth. It typifies the earliest apocalyptic en ...

'', and when published in 1948 it became very influential in the early Environmental movement and helped spur a

Malthusian Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off. This event, c ...

revival in 1950s and 60s. He is also remembered for being an early opponent of synthetic

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lam ...

use, for producing several films dealing with

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

, flood control and water resources, as well as for his second book, ''The Limits of the Earth'' (1953), and a collection of short essays he edited under the title of ''Our Crowded Planet'' (1962). From 1948 to 1961, he served as the first president of the Conservation Foundation, an organization he founded with a number of like-minded colleagues to raise awareness about ecological problems. After retiring as Conservation Foundation president in 1962, he served as its Chairman until 1969. From 1950 to 1957, Osborn was also a member of the Conservation Advisory Committee for the

U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

, while also serving on the Planning Committee of the

Economic and Social Council of the United Nations The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

. Upon his death in New York City on September 16, 1969, "he was remembered for playing a valuable role in a number of conservation organizations and for his outreach initiatives to warn of the dangers of uncontrolled population growth and to promote responsible natural resource consumption."

References

External links

Henry Fairfield Osborn at Western Kentucky University

Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr. collection finding aid
at the Wildlife Conservation Society Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Osborn, Henry Fairfield Jr. 1887 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American zoologists American conservationists American non-fiction environmental writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Wildlife Conservation Society people

Biography

See also

References

External links