Popular fossil hunter and paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, whose discoveries of ancient human skulls and skeletons helped cement Africa’s place as the cradle of humanity, died on Sunday in Kenya.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya announced Mr. Leakey’s death in a statement, but did not specify 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, which Mr. Leakey founded.
Mr. Leakey’s parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, were towering figures in paleontology, but Mr. Leakey was determined to avoid his parents’ field.
He found work as a safari guide, but he eventually succumbed to fossil fever.
He might have changed his mind on a 1967 flight, when he looked down over the rocky shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya and had a feeling the area could yield a trove of fossils.
Who was Richard Leakey, renowned conservationist and fossil hunter?
Richard Leakey age, height, birthplace, parents, siblings, education background, wife, children, what he is known for.
Richard was 77 years. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya to Louis Leakey and Mary Douglas Leakey.
He was married to Meave G. Leakey. They have three children together.
Richard attended Stone Brook University.
He is known as a world-renowned paleoanthropologist.
