I was saddened to hear that after missing a few weeks, the body of famed photographer Peter Beard was found on Sunday April 19, 2020. He was 82.
I first learned about Peter Beard back in 1989 or 1990 when I was going through my Out of Africa phase and working at WaldenBooks. Didn’t everyone have an Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen/Beryl Markham/Out of Africa/Gertrude Bell/Freya Stark/Sir Richard Burton phase back in the 1990s?
Peter published some amazing books over the years on African wildlife and the destruction that was happening to the wildlife and the environment. I was fortunate to hear him speak on December 2, 2004, when he did a lecture at the James J. Hill House (he was the great-grandson of Hill) in St. Paul. I remember that is was snowy that night and I dragged the twin sister Michelle there to hear him talk. Before we went, I had shown her some of his photographs and her comment was something like ‘I don’t like his feet’ (he had tough feet from walking in the Kenyan bush) and would there after refer to him as feetboy. After the lecture, I only recall that he was very charming, he did a book signing of his latest book Zara’s Tales and both he and his daughter Zara signed my book and inked in their handprints. I recall making a comment to him about how he and Zara were ‘spending quality time together’ which he thought was funny.
