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Art Cooley, cofounder and last known victim of the Environmental Defense Fund, is dead

Art Cooley, cofounder and last known victim of the Environmental Defense Fund, is dead

WASHINGTON (AP). Art Cooley has died. He was a long-standing activist who founded the Environmental Defense Fund more 50 years ago. Cooley, who was 87, was instrumental in the creation of the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now one the most respected environmental organizations in the world. He started the group from his Long Island, N.Y. home in 1967.

EDF now has over 2.5 million members and close to 1,000 employees, from New York to London down to Beijing.

According to Jonathan, Cooley, Cooley, he died Sunday in Colorado from natural causes.

Cooley, a high-school teacher, was one of several activists who organized against the pesticide DDT in the mid-1960s. This toxin was threatening the survival of birds like the bald Eagle, peregrine Falcon, and osprey. The legal battle resulted in DDT being banned in the United States and EDF being formed.

Cooley served as the organization’s chair and secretary for many decades. Cooley was raised on Long Island and later became a long-time resident in La Jolla, Calif.

Fred Krupp, EDF’s long-standing president, said that Art had a warmth, charisma, and helped bring people together in common cause. “All of us who carry the EDF torch… knowing Art will be one of the greatest satisfactions of our lives.

Cooley and his associates used science in court to challenge industry groups and helped establish the right for ordinary citizens to sue government to protect human health, EDF stated in a statement.

Charles Wurster, Cooley’s last co-founder, has died. Dennis Puleston was another co-founder who died in 2001.

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