David Suzuki
David Suzuki Foundation, 2211 West 4th Ave.
"My grandchildren are my stake in the near future, and it is my most fervent hope that they might one day say, ‘Grandpa was part of a great movement that helped turn things around for us.'"
From David Suzuki: the autobiography
A British Columbian who for decades needed no introduction, David Suzuki, as a geneticist-turned-broadcaster-turned-environmentalist, wrote or co-wrote more than 50 books. Shortlisted for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in 2016, his Letters to My Grandchildren is a collection of stories and anecdotes to encourage his grandchildren to live lives of “passion, courage and conviction.” Born in Vancouver in 1936, David Takayoshi Suzuki was interned with his family in Slocan, B.C. during WW II. Like many Japanese Canadians who were interned, Suzuki was both embittered and emboldened— seemingly intent on proving his worth to society. In 1963, he joined the UBC Zoology Department and won the award for outstanding Canadian research scientist under the age of 35 three years in a row. He brought science to the masses via television, starting with Suzuki on Science in 1971, and leading to his long association with The Nature of Things on CBC. David Suzuki titled his first autobiography Metamorphosis: Stages in a Life (1987) to echo his groundbreaking studies of mutations in fruit flies. It was expanded and reissued as David Suzuki: The Autobiography (2005), covering his later accomplishments. With his second wife, Tara Cullis, he co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation. Among his many honours, he has received the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C., the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award, and Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award.
