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Richard Leakey cause of death: What killed Kenyan conservationist?

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Richard Leakey
Richard Leakey

Kenyan paleoanthropologist and environmentalist Richard Leakey died on Sunday at the age of 77, according to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who announced his death in a statement.

Kenyatta said in a statement “I learned with profound grief this afternoon, Sunday 2nd January 2022, the terrible news of the passing away of Dr. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey, Kenya’s former Head of Public Service,”.

“On behalf of the people of Kenya, my family, and myself, I extend my profound condolences and sympathies to Dr. Richard Leakey’s family, friends, and associates at this terrible time of bereavement.”

Leakey was born into a family of famous archaeologists. In 1978, his mother, Mary Leakey, uncovered evidence suggesting man walked upright considerably earlier than previously thought.

Richard Leakey cause of death: What killed Kenyan conservationist?

In 1993, the small plane he was flying in lost power and crashed.

He survived but both of his legs were amputated below the knee.

In President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya’s announcement of Mr. Leakey’s death, he never specified the cause of death.

Mr. Leakey died at his home outside Nairobi, said Prof. Lawrence Martin, director of Stony Brook University’s Turkana Basin Institute.

Head of content and Editor-at-large at Ghanafuo.com – Dickson Ofori Siaw is a blunt writer who loves to make his readers see "the other perspectives of a news story". Follow me on Twitter @kwadwo_dost

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