Edgar Wayburn
Edgar Arthur Wayburn (September 17, 1906 – March 5, 2010) was an American environmentalist who was elected president of the Sierra Club five times in the 1960s. He has been described as one of the least-known and yet most successful defenders of America's natural heritage. He is considered instrumental to achievements such as the creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the creation and later expansion of Redwood National Park and Point Reyes National Seashore, and the expansion of Mount Tamalpais State Park. Biography. He was born on September 17, 1906 in Macon, Georgia. He graduated  from University of Georgia in 1926 and from Harvard Medical School in 1930. He moved to San Francisco in 1933 to practice medicine. He joined the Sierra Club in 1939 to participate in a burro trip. After four years in the military in England as a doctor with the Army Air Forces, he returned to San Francisco. He was elected to the executive committee of the local Sierra Club chapter, and formed its first conservation committee. In 1947 he married Peggy Elliott, and together they were involved in some of the key battles of their time to protect wild places  so that future generations can explore and enjoy them. In particular, he played a central role in the establishment of Redwoods National Park and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, as well as in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. In 1995, he was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and in 1999 President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Upon presenting the 1999 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Wayburn, President Clinton said that he had "saved more of our wilderness than any other person alive." The Los Angeles Times wrote an article  commending the award, saying "The White House has made a well-informed choice in selecting Wayburn, 92, as a recipient next Wednesday of the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor." Wayburn published his memoir "Your Land and Mine: Evolution of a Conservationist" in 2004. Wayburn was honored at a 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration as the recipient of the inaugural Howard C. Zahniser Lifetime Achievement Award, given to someone whose life of achievement in protecting wilderness most closely parallels those of the person principally responsible for the Wilderness Act. He died of natural causes on the evening of  March 5, 2010 at the age of 103. At the time he was at his home in San Francisco with his family by his side. He was survived by four children: Cynthia Wayburn, Diana Wayburn, Laurie Wayburn, and William Wayburn. Activism. Wayburn served five terms as the Sierra Club's elected President, and was named the Club's Honorary President in 1993. During a half-century of environmental achievements, Wayburn led and won campaigns to protect millions of acres of America's coasts, mountains, forests and tundra. Wayburn has left his mark in the following ways: