Biografie von Roger Tory PETERSON (1908-1996)

Birth place: Jamestown, NY.

Death place: Old Lyme, CT

Addresses: Alexandria, VA (1940s); Old Lyme, CT

Profession: Illustrator, writer, lecturer, photographer

Studied: ASL, 1927; NAD, 1929-31; with Wm. D. von Langereis, John Sloan, and K. Nicolaides

Exhibited: bird paintings in natural history museums in Buffalo, Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Toronto, Charlotteville, and Charleston. Awards: eleven honorary degrees; NY Zoological Soc. (gold med); World Wildlife Fund (gold med); U.S. Humane Soc. (med); Swedish Acad. of Science, (Linnaeus gold med); French Natural Hist. Soc. (gold med); Explorers Club, 1974 (med); Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1980

Comments: The best known ornithologist of the 20th century, he was author/illustrator of A Field Guide to the Birds which was revised four times since 1934, the year it was published and won the Brewster Award of the Am. Ornithologists Union. By the time of his death in 1996, about 4 million copies of the book had sold, and Peterson had garnered numerous international awards. He wrote and illustrated many other natural history books, including a 31-vol. series of field guides, including one for wildflowers. In 1961, Audubon Magazine said that "as a naturalist, he has the soul of an artist and as an artist he has the soul of a naturalist." His 100,000-mile trip across the U.S. in 1953 with British naturalist, James Fisher, resulted in their book, Wild America (1955). Positions: t., Rivers Sch., Brookline, Mass., c.1931-34; asst. editor, Audubon Magazine, 1935-42.

Sources: WW47; biography by John Devlin and Grace Naismith (1977); obit., New York Times (July 30, 1996, p.D1)