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Lester Milbrath, professor, environmentalist
Lester W. Milbrath, noted environmental activist and former director of the UB Environmental Studies Center, died on Dec. 26 in Canterbury Woods, Amherst, after a long illness. He was 82.
Milbrath joined the UB faculty in 1965 and served as associate provost for social science and director of the Social Science Research Institute from 1969-76, as well as director of the Environmental Studies Center—the precursor to the Environment and Society Institute—from 1976-87. He retired in 1991 as a professor emeritus of political science and sociology.
Born in Bertha, Minn., Milbrath was an electrician in the Navy at the end of World War II. Following his discharge, he attended the University of Minnesota and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his doctoral degree in political science from the University of North Carolina.
Milbrath began his academic career with a fellowship at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., and then taught at Duke and Northwestern universities before coming to UB.
During his academic career, he taught abroad on sabbaticals and Fulbright scholarships in Poland, Norway, Denmark, Taiwan and Australia. He also taught at the University of Southern California-Irvine from 1992 to 1994.
He was the author of six books related to both political science and environmental studies. As a result of his work, he received several awards, including the Lifetime Environmental Achievement Award from the Environment and Society Institute, which also established a graduate fellowship award in his name, He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association in recognition of his "distinguished lifetime achievement in scholarship, teaching and advancement of the field of ecological and transformational politics."
He also was a member of the Town of Amherst Conservation Committee.
An avid outdoorsman, Milbrath enjoyed hiking, fishing and sailing, and owned summer homes at Cuba Lake and later at Crosswinds on Chautauqua Lake.