Richard M. Brett (September 3, 1903 – September 7, 1989) was an American conservationist and author.

Biography

Early life

Brett was born in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...

and spent most of his life in

Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Chart ...

, and

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...

. Brett was a graduate of the

Taft School The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates. About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, and the

Yale School of Forestry Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental leaders through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

Career

Brett served as treasurer (appointed 1926) and general manager of

Macmillan Publishing Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

. After serving in World War II, Brett was the business manager of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

from 1947 until 1953.

Conservationist

After retirement in 1953, Brett moved to Vermont, where he set up a tree farm with habitats for wildlife at Hawk's Hill in East Barnard. He served as a trustee of the Vermont Natural Resources Council. Brett later donated his Hawk's Hill tree farm to the New England Forestry Foundation.

Military service

Brett served in the

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Bibliography

* Country Journal Woodlot Primer: The Right Way to Manage Your Woodland by Richard M. Brett (1983) * Primer on Aging by Richard M. Brett (1988) * An inquiry into flood plains by Richard M Brett (1973)

References

American conservationists 1903 births 1989 deaths United States Army Air Forces soldiers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Writers from Fairfield, Connecticut Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni Williams College alumni {{environmentalist-stub