The Leakey Family
Louis S. B. Leakey
(b. 1903, d. 1972) Louis S. B. Leakey was a tireless promoter of the study of human origins, and exerted tremendous impact on the prevailing conception of early humans with his theoretical and paleontological work in the field. Read more…
Mary Leakey
(b. 1913, d. 1996) Mary Douglas Leakey was one of the world’s most renowned hunters of early human fossils, credited with many discoveries that have changed the way scientists conceive human evolution. Together with her husband, Louis S. B. Leakey, she is considered to be a preeminent contributor to the field of human origins. Read more…
Frida Leakey | Priscilla Leakey | Colin Leakey | Jonathan Leakey | Richard Leakey | Meave Leakey
Louise Leakey | Philip Leakey | Katy Leakey
Frida Leakey
Frida Leakey (1902- 1993) was Louis Leakey’s first wife. She was an early graduate of Newnham College and she became an expert in the drawing of stone tools. Frida also worked on Louis’ excavations and it was she who discovered the site (FLK) where Mary, Louis’s second wife, later found Zinjanthropus.
Priscilla Leakey
Priscilla Leakey (b. 1931) was Louis and Frida’s first child, and Louis’s only daughter. Priscilla finished her education at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and trained to be a physiotherapist. Priscilla was married in 1954 to Justin Davies.
Colin Leakey
Colin Leakey (b. 1933) was born in Cambridge to Frida and Louis. He is the eldest son of Louis and the elder half-brother of Richard, Phillip and Jonathan. Colin lives with his wife Susan in the house that his mother Frida purchased in 1932 following her and Louis’s first African dig together.
Colin’s interests are food/nutrition and feeding the World. He has lectured on “Man, Food and Health” and his abiding interest since 1961 has been in plant breeding. He is also interested in appropriate (efficient) technologies for organic agriculture. www.colinleakey.com
Jonathan Leakey
Jonathan Leakey (b. 1940) Mary Leakey had to take a break from fieldwork to give birth to her and Louis’s first son. As soon as Jonathan was a little older, Mary once again took up work excavating several sites.
Jonathan scored some exploratory coups of his own, including a major Homo habilis discovery at Olduvai that was called at first called “Jonny’s child” but later it became OH 7. As Jonathan recalls, “There was enough family involvement in anthropology. I had always liked snakes, so I decided to see if I could do something with them.” Jonathan deviated from the family calling into snake farming.
Richard Leakey
Richard Leakey (b. 1944) followed in his parents’ footsteps, and is the heir to the legacy of Louis and Mary. Richard has been credited with some of this century’s most successful paleoanthropologic finds including a Homo erectus dubbed Turkana Boy. He has been the Director of Kenya’s National Museums, Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service and helped to form a political party Safina. Richard and Meave Epps were married in 1970 and together they have 2 daughters, Louise and Samira.
Richard, Meave, and their daughter Louise, are now focused on a research station at Lake Turkana, called The Turkana Basin Institute. TBI is a collaboration between the Leakeys and Stony Brook University which ensures that research in the Turkana Basin continues to produce outstanding results with excellent scientific practice. TBI is privately funded and endowed. The purpose is to support research in the region by providing logistical support to researchers working in the remote, rugged part of northern Kenya. www.turkanabasin.org
“We hope to find more pieces of the puzzle which will shed light on the connection between this upright, walking ape, our early ancestor, and modern man.” –Richard Leakey
Meave Leakey
Meave Leakey (b. 1942) discovered a 3.5 million-year-old skull and partial jaw in 1999, believed to belong to a new branch of early hominids- Kenyanthropus platyops. Meave obtained her B.S. (in Zoology and Marine Zoology) and Ph.D. (Zoology) from the University of North Wales. In 1965, she took a position at the Tigoni Primate Research Centre, a facility under the auspices of Louis Leakey. Meave has worked at the National Museums of Kenya since 1969 and became Head of the Division of Paleontology in 1982. She held that position until 2001.
Meave, her husband Richard, and their daughter Louise, are now focused on a research station at Lake Turkana, called The Turkana Basin Institute. TBI is a collaboration between the Leakeys and Stony Brook University which ensures that research in the Turkana Basin continues to produce outstanding results with excellent scientific practice. TBI is privately funded and endowed. The purpose is to support research in the region by providing logistical support to researchers working in the remote, rugged part of northern Kenya. www.turkanabasin.org
Louise Leakey
Louise Leakey (b. 1972) represents the third generation of paleontologists in her renowned family, continuing the legacy begun by her grandparents. Louise is also credited for helping to discover a 3.5 million-year-old skull and partial jaw, in 1999, believed to belong to a new branch of early hominids- Kenyanthropus platyops.
Louise and her parents, Richard and Meave, are now focused on a research station at Lake Turkana, called The Turkana Basin Institute. TBI is a collaboration between the Leakeys and Stony Brook University which ensures that research in the Turkana Basin continues to produce outstanding results with excellent scientific practice. TBI is privately funded and endowed. The purpose is to support research in the region by providing logistical support to researchers working in the remote, rugged part of northern Kenya. www.turkanabasin.org
“It was my grandparents who set foot in Olduvai, and against all conventional thinking at that time, finally found the evidence that put Africa on the map as the place we all came from.” –Louise Leakey
Philip Leakey
Philip Leakey (b. 1949) is a former member of the Kenyan Parliament. He represented the KANU party led by then president Daniel Arap Moi. He was an MP of Langata Constituency from 1979 [1] and served as a cabinet minister for a short stint, until he lost his parliamentary seat in the 1992 Kenyan general elections. Together with his wife Katy Leakey, he runs The Leakey Collection, a company exporting products made by Maasai handicrafts. www.leakeycollection.com
Katy Leakey
Katy Leakey is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moodey, co-founders of The Leakey Foundation. In fact the Foundation’s first year was in their house and one floor was the office for the Foundation, which quickly became filled with casts of bones and paperwork. So much happened there that Louis in one of his books dubbed the Moodey home, “Nairobi West”. As a teen, Katy babysat Grub for Jane Goodall while she lectured in Southern California. www.leakeycollection.com