Frans de Waal

Dr. de Waal (1948-2024) was a Dutch/American behavioral biologist and ethologist known for his work on the social intelligence of primates. He was a member of the (US) National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. After a long career in primate research, including as past director of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution at the Yerkes/Emory National Primate Research Center, de Waal retired in 2019 and, at the time of his passing, was the C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus at Emory University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. He was involved in behavioral research on chimpanzees and bonobos to the end, especially expressions of empathy and cooperation while writing books on topics related to human evolution. His final book, “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emtions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves” (Norton, 2019), was a New York Times bestseller.