Stan Braude, devoted son of Greta B. Heiman and the late Jerold S Braude, beloved husband of Nancy Berg, loving father, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and friend, died June 1, 2024 at home surrounded by family after a brief illness.
He worked in Kenya for over twenty years becoming the world expert on Naked Mole-Rat ecology, evolution, and behavior in the wild. He also worked in Patagonia, Ethiopia, Djbouti, and Tanzania and delivered equipment to the new Bwindi National Park in Uganda during the civil war. Over the course of his career, he wrote on elephant behavior, rhino population genetics, the evolution of dogs, dragonflies, tuco-tucos, and cave salamanders as well as Barr Bodies, differential blood counts, and the evolution of humor. Though he wrote the preface, he wasn’t able to finish what would have been the most comprehensive book on Naked-Mole Rats, in which he would have been the first to publish proof that Naked-Mole Rats get cancer. He outlined several radical new hypotheses in biology including the immuno-redistribution hypothesis, the Vitamin D feedback hypothesis for persistent IBD, and the Onco-protective Fever Hypothesis. His work was published in French, Spanish, Japanese, Croatian and even plagiarized into Chinese. He published textbooks on human biology as well as ecology, evolution, and conservation biology.
Braude became a master animal trapper, but for all his effort he remained a terrible fisherman. He was a competent carpenter and furniture maker and created innovative camping gear for his company, BlackHole Ultralight. He was a lazy gardener, but tended his burr oaks, hazelnuts, cherries, and other fruit trees with love. Since his early years in northern Wisconsin, he enjoyed foraging for wild edibles and tried to teach generations of students and Scouts to do the same safely. He was an addicted scavenger and hoarder but loved giving away great books, good alcohol, and useful camping gear.
Certified as an EMT, wilderness medicine educator, and arborist, he was the first Curator of Washington University in St. Louis’ arboretum, which attained the Morton Arboretum Level II certification during his tenure. He initiated the love letters for trees event, introduced nurse logs, and continued the life of the oldest campus tree. Soon both the Peace Tree and the Moon Tree will add to his legacy.
He loved his wife, children, sister, extended family, each of his many dogs and even the cat.
In lieu of flowers, donations are preferred to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry, One Tree Planted or the charity of your choice. Services will be held Tuesday, June 4th at Kol Rinah Congregation at 10:00am. No visitation. Interment will be at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery following service.
