Dr. Eleanor J. Sterling (1960 – 2023) – In Memoriam

Eleanor Sterling, longtime colleague and beloved member of the E3B community, passed away on February 11.

Eleanor was one of the founding members of the E3B department, served as the Director of Graduate Studies for many years (2002-2012), and mentored and sponsored many students throughout E3B’s history. She was one of the strongest voices for E3B students and the program, and her scholarship and teaching served as models for how creative approaches to conservation biology, centered around the principle of biocultural pluralism, can be a powerful and effective way to understand people, nature, and environmental problem solving.

Eleanor was a Chief Conservation Scientist Emerita at the American Museum of Natural History, leaving in 2021 after working there for over 20 years to embark on a directorship at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Eleanor J. Sterling Fund, established in Eleanor’s honor to support the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology: https://giving.uhfoundation.org/funds/13023004