Lowther, G.R.

G.R. Lowther (1928-1984), a Professor of Anthropology, was born in Yorkshire, England. He read successively for the Geography, Archaeology, and Anthropology Tripos at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. in 1952. His first post was with the Department of Ancient Monuments and the Yorkshire Museum. Lowther then served for ten years as Curator of Anthropology and Archaeology in the McCord Museum, McGill University (1954-1964), and was a member of the faculty of the University of Montreal for two years. In 1966, he went to East Africa where he was a lecturer in Prehistory and Philosophy at University College, Nairobi, Kenya for three years before coming to York in 1970. In addition to Anthropology, he also taught in the Division of Social Science, Departments of Biology and Philosophy and the Interdisciplinary MA Programme. With interests in ethology, philosophy, and evolutionary biology, Lowther carried out extensive field work on fifteen expeditions to the Arctic, Northeastern North America, Arizona, Guyana-Brazil and East Africa. He is most noted for his work done in collaboration with field biologist, George Schaller on carnivore behaviour and its relation to social organization in humankind. This work, considered a classic in its field, was published in the Southwestern Journal of Anthropology in 1970. In his memory and to honour his accomplishments, The Gordon Lowther Memorial Fund was established by York University in October, 1984. The purpose of the fund is to provide income to support an annual or biennial University Lecture in the areas of biology, anthropology or philosophy.