Peter Klopfer, Civil Rights Activist and Co-Founder of Duke Lemur Center, Died

On left, a black and white photo of Peter Klopfer with ducks. On the right, Peter Klopfer is holding his memoir.
Peter Klopfer's research spanned from ducks to lemurs. On right, Klopfer in 1999 holding his memoir.

The following is a summary of a story by Marie Claire Chelini and Owen Covington on Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Peter Klopfer, co-founder of the Duke Lemur Center, died on June 5 at the age of 95. 

Klopfer, a professor emeritus of biology and civil rights activist, helped develop the field of behavioral ecology, the study of animal behavior and its evolution. Klopfer made important contributions to our understanding of mother-offspring bonding.

His impact extended well beyond research. Shocked by the segregationist policies still in place when they arrived in North Carolina in the late 1950s, Klopfer and his wife, Martha, co-founded one of the first integrated schools of the South, the Carolina Friends School. 

His civil rights activism also led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial applies to state courts as well as federal courts, a victory that impacted thousands of cases around the country.

The Lemur Center was established as a collaboration between Klopfer, who joined Duke in 1958, and Yale researcher John Buettner-Janusch. Klopfer had been studying mother-infant dynamics in goats and Buettner-Janusch, who researched biochemical genetics in lemurs, told Klopfer lemurs would serve his research better. 

The two conspired the idea that a facility with lemurs in Duke Forest could combine their research work to explore primate genetics and behavior. When Buettner-Janusch joined Duke in 1965, he brought with him about 200 primates, to be housed in what was then Klopfer’s field station. 

In 1966, the Duke Primate Center was born, and would later become the Duke Lemur Center, the world’s largest and most diverse collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar.

Read more about Peter Klopfer – from his avid running to his mentorship of students – on  Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.