San Diego Zoo Global Marks the Passing of Legendary Leader

From SD Zoo: San Diego Zoo Global is saddened to announce the loss of one of its visionary leaders, Kurt Benirschke, M.D., who passed away Sept. 10, 2018. A world-renowned expert in pathology, reproductive medicine and genetics, an innovator in zoo science, and president of the Zoological Society of San Diego from 1997 to 2000, Dr. Kurt Benirschke fused his scientific expertise with his passion for wildlife conservation to forever change the face of the San Diego Zoo.

Dr. Benirschke founded the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES)—which is now the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research (ICR)—in 1979, and he was known as the “father of the Frozen Zoo®.” He served as the center’s director until 1985, and using a multidisciplinary approach, he applied the principles of human medicine to preventing animal extinction. As he once stated, “We can live without gorillas and giraffes, without butterflies and hummingbirds. But will we like it? Will we want to? I don’t think we have the right to say the world is made for us alone.”

Oliver Ryder, Ph.D., one of his colleagues from the early days of CRES who continues to work at ICR today, said, “Kurt Benirschke was a charming person, an intense scholar and unquestionably a man of vision. He was passionately multidisciplinary, assembling teams with broad backgrounds in the efforts he led in medicine, conservation science and redefining the role of zoos. He touched the lives of so many people, and for many, like myself, he played a critical role in their professional lives as a mentor. He leaves a large legacy.”

In 1986, Dr. Benirschke began a new role on the Zoological Society of San Diego’s board of trustees, which he continued until 2000, and served as board president from 1997 to 2000. Douglas G. Myers, San Diego Zoo Global president/CEO, said, “Dr. Benirschke was a man of vision who was able to use his diverse background, his insight and his enthusiasm to further conservation research. His pioneering effort to create CRES and the Frozen Zoo® expanded the possibilities of conservation science, and his guidance and leadership as a board member continued to steer San Diego Global toward becoming the conservation-focused organization it is today.”

Dr. Benirschke was an energizing force in the crusade to protect endangered species. When he began the Frozen Zoo®, there was little technology to make use of it yet, but he quoted historian Daniel Boorstin: “You must collect things for reasons you don't yet understand.” In the work now being conducted to try to save the northern white rhino and other species, his foresight is bearing fruit.

Born in 1924 in Gleuckstadt, Germany, a small farming community of about 5,000 people, Kurt Benirschke originally wanted to become an organic chemist, like his father, but his family convinced him he would have a better chance of being accepted to a university if he studied medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and was able to get a visa to emigrate to the U.S. in 1949. He trained in pathology at university hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School. From 1960 to 1970, he was chairman of the Pathology Department at Dartmouth Medical School and pursued his interests in placental pathology and comparative reproductive pathology.

In 1970, Dr. Benirschke arrived in San Diego, becoming a professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. In a remarkably long career, Dr. Benirschke spent many years as professor of pathology and reproductive medicine and two years as chair of the Department of Pathology. He also established a genetics laboratory and served as director of autopsy services for the UCSD Medical Center. He was a world-renowned and much honored expert in twinning, mammalian chromosomes and placental development, as well as an author of popular and scientific texts and papers. He received numerous awards for his medical research and conservation work throughout his lifetime.

Dr. Benirschke is survived by his wife of 66 years, Marion; and his three children, Stephen, Ingrid and Rolf. His work and his interests were an influence for all three of his children: Stephen became a well-respected orthopedic trauma surgeon; Ingrid works at UCSD; and Rolf interned at the Zoo during the summers while he was in college, created the Kicks for Critters program as a placekicker for the San Diego Chargers and currently serves on San Diego Zoo Global’s board of trustees.

Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is made accessible to children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in children’s hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global.

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