In Memoriam: Arthur H. Westing (1928–2020)

May 6, 2020 | Nils Petter Gleditsch
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An in memoriam of  Arthur H. Westing, forest ecologist and pioneer in the field of environmental peacebuilding.

As Nils Petter Gleditsch writes:  

"On factual academic matters, I was never able to catch Arthur out. My moment of triumph arrived years later when my son and I stayed with Arthur and Carol over a weekend in Vermont and went hiking with them in a local nature reserve that they had helped to establish, reflecting their environmental activism. This was in the fall and I suggested bringing along a basket for picking mushrooms. There are no edible mushrooms in that area, Arthur stated with some finality. Since my stubbornness matched his, I brought the basket along anyway. That evening we all had mushrooms at supper, and no one got sick. I was later told by Carol that no sooner had I left than Arthur went off to buy a mushroom field guide. This was in 1999, when he was 71. He hadn’t stopped taking in new knowledge then. He still hadn’t stopped at 92.

"His commitment to the environment and the preservation of nature lasted literally until his death. A friend relates that for several days, Arthur and his wife Carol had been working on creating trails around their home at Wake Robin, in Shelburne, Vermont. Carol had been carrying the chainsaw, and Arthur was doing a lot of cutting, brush piling, raking, and clipping. On Thursday morning they went for a walk on the trails. They had stopped to rest on a bench along the trail, and while talking together, Arthur reached for his head, slumped over, and died."