Strachan Donnelley, Ph.D. (1942-2008)

Founding President

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Strachan Donnelley, Ph.D. was the founder and President of the Center for Humans and Nature. Before establishing the Center for Humans and Nature in 2003, he was a past President of The Hastings Center (a bioethics institute), and Director of its Humans and Nature Program. During his time at The Hastings Center, Donnelley directed a number of animal and environmental research projects, including the Ethics of Animal Research, Animal Biotechnology, and Nature, Polis, Ethics: Chicago Regional Planning.

Besides numerous published articles in philosophy and applied ethics, Donnelley co-edited and wrote for three Special Supplements to the Hastings Center Report: "Animals, Science, and Ethics" (1990), "The Brave New World of Animal Biotechnology" (1994), and "Nature, Polis, Ethics: Chicago Regional Planning" (November-December 1999). He also edited a special edition of the Hastings Center Report (1995) on the philosopher and ethicist Hans Jonas. More recently, he wrote articles on philosophy, evolutionary biology, and ethical responsibility.

Donnelley was vice-chair, and former chair of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (Chicago, Illinois) and served on several boards, including The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the New School University (New School for Social Research), the National Humanities Center, Yale University's Institute for Biospheric Studies, The Land Institute, and the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

Donnelley held a B.A. in English Literature from Yale University (1964), studied philosophy at University College Oxford University (1964-1967); and received an M.A. in philosophy from the New School for Social Research (1972); and was awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Graduate Faculty, the New School for Social Research (1977). His dissertation on Alfred North Whitehead, "The Living Body: Organisms and Value," earned New School's Alfred Schutz and Max Lerner Awards.