Edgar Wayburn

Edgar Arthur Wayburn (September 17, 1906 – March 5, 2010) was an American environmentalist who served as the president of the Sierra Club five times in the 1960s. He has been recognized as one of the least-known yet most successful defenders of America's natural heritage. Wayburn played a crucial role in the establishment of significant achievements, including the creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the creation and subsequent expansion of Redwood National Park and Point Reyes National Seashore, and the expansion of Mount Tamalpais State Park.

Biography Wayburn was born Edgar Arthur Waxelbaum on September 17, 1906, in Macon, Georgia to Lewis Isaac Waxelbaum and Marian "Mamie" Voorsanger Waxelbaum. He was a direct descendant of Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger, a prominent early Jewish leader in San Francisco and rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El. Wayburn graduated from the University of Georgia in 1926 and from Harvard Medical School in 1930. and in 1999 President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Upon presenting the 1999 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Wayburn, President Clinton said that he had "saved more of our wilderness than any other person alive."

Wayburn was honored at a 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration as the recipient of the inaugural Howard C. Zahniser Lifetime Achievement Award, given to someone whose life of achievement in protecting wilderness most closely parallels those of the person principally responsible for the Wilderness Act.

Wayburn's gravestoneHe died of natural causes He was remembered by the Los Angeles Times as, "a San Francisco physician and longtime president of the Sierra Club who was credited with protecting more parks and wilderness areas than any other American."

Activism Wayburn served five terms as the Sierra Club's elected president, and was named the club's Honorary President in 1993. During a half-century of environmental achievements, Wayburn led and won campaigns to protect millions of acres of America's coasts, mountains, forests and tundra. Wayburn has left his mark in the following ways:

Establishing the nation's largest urban park, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Included in the park's expanse are San Francisco's beaches, Alcatraz and the Presidio Protecting over 100 million acres (400,000 km2) of Alaskan wild lands with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which doubled the size of Denali National Park, created 10 new National Parks, and doubled the size of America's National Park system Creating Redwood National Park, and then doubling the park's size 10 years later; Increasing the area of California's Mount Tamalpais State Park from . Mount Tamalpais is now among the state's 10 most-visited state parks Establishing the Point Reyes National Seashore Establishing Wilderness areas throughout the American West