Estella Leopold, a researcher and scientist as well as the last remaining child of world-renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, has died at age 97, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. She reportedly passed away late Sunday in Seattle following several months of hospice care.
She specialized in the study of pollen, or palynology, especially in fossilized form, and joined siblings Nina, Luna, Starker, and Carl to found the nonprofit Aldo Leopold Foundation in 1982. The conservation organization sits amid the 16,000-acre Leopold-Pine Island Important Bird Area. It also stewards the Leopold Archives and maintains the pines, prairies, and floodplain forests that comprise the Leopold Shack property and 600-acre Leopold-Pines Memorial Reserve.
Estella Leopold had an impressive career after receiving a degree in botany from UW–Madison in 1948 followed by a master’s degree from the University of California Berkeley and a doctorate at Yale University. She worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado and the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington, spearheaded numerous conservation efforts, published or contributed to over 100 scientific papers and articles, wrote multiple books, and was elected along with Starker and Luna to the National Academy of Sciences. She was also awarded the International Cosmos Prize in 2010.
Estella Leopold’s death comes days ahead of the start of Leopold Week, an annual event that features virtual speaker presentations from leading conservation experts.
