Some have proclaimed Peter Beard died how he lived — completely wild. The American adventurer, photographer, and artist who braved the African wilderness to showcase it to the world died this month at the age of 82. Beard was renowned for his death-defying photographs of elephants, crocodiles and other creatures. He was found in the Montauk wilderness on Long Island, New York after being missing for 19 days.

Despite his daredevil persona, he never shied away from fear, rather he chose to confront it and understand it. “I'm learning that human pressure on wildlife is becoming increasingly dangerous. You've got to be more alert because more animals have been pushed around, wounded, subjected to human harassment, ambushed, all kinds of stress.”

Never shy from controversy, Beard voiced his opinions on love, overpopulation, habitat destruction, and poaching. His numerous quotes on humanity’s effects on the world have crossed over to soothsaying in recent months, as he often called for a plague or catastrophy as the only means to keep the human population in balance with nature. 

“We're adding a billion people every decade,” Beard explained in an interview from the 1990’s. “We're just spin doctors. Whatever we do is supposedly great, and yet it's always at the expense of diversity and nature.”

A lifelong friend of Turtle Conservancy’s founder, Eric Goode, the two connected over their love of nature and art. Upon the formation of the Turtle Conservancy, Peter Beard and his wife Nejma were among the first supporters. The two donated art for the Turtle Ball and Peter appeared in our PSA series on the threats facing turtles today.

Peter is survived by his wife Nejma and daughter Zara. For more on his extraordinary life, please read the New York Times profile on this influential artist and friend. Peter, you will be missed.

The Turtle Conservancy ran an article and Q&A on the life of Peter Beard in the third issue of our magazine, The Tortoise. We have made the article free and available to all online.