Fitter, Richard Sidney Richmond 1913–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 1, 1913, in London, England; died September 3, 2005, in Cambridge, England. Naturalist and author. Fitter was a bestselling author of bird and flora guides who also was a pioneer in nature conservation in England and around the world. His career began in the field of social science, however. After graduating with an economics degree from the London School of Economics in 1933, he joined the staff at the Institute for Political and Economic Planning. Here he honed his skills compiling and writing technical information on issues such as education, health, and the economy in a readable way. He then continued his work in social science with Mass-Observation, a research organization studying British society. During the World War II years, Fitter worked for the Operational Research Section of the Coastal Command, while also serving as editor of the London Naturalist. Fitter's boyhood love of nature, encouraged by ornithologist E.C. Arnold while he was in college, began to manifest itself in his publications by the early 1940s. His first books, including The Starling Roosts of the London Area (1943) and Bird-Watching in London (1948), focus on the wildlife of England's capital. He became increasingly involved in nature organizations after the war, and was elected secretary of the wildlife conservation special committee for the Hobhouse Committee on National Parks and became bird recorder for the London Natural History Society. Publishing such guides as London's Birds (1949) and British Birds in Colour (1951), Fitter gained a reputation for creating books that were accessible to the lay reader and amateur bird watcher. Over the next several decades, he continued work for several magazines, including as an assistant editor for Countryman from 1946 to 1959, correspondent for the London Observer from 1958 to 1966, and editor of Kingfisher from 1965 to 1972. With the publication of The Pocket Guide to British Birds (1952), illustrated by R.A. Richardson, Fitter became a bestselling author. The reason for this success was his unique way of organizing birds: instead of using scientific classifications, he organized them by habitat and size, which was much easier for lay readers to understand. When Fitter moved on to write guides to wild plants, he took a similar user-friendly approach, arranging flowers by color instead of species. Among his flora guides are Fontana Wild Flower Guide (1957), the children's book Your Book about Wildflowers (1960), and Finding Wild Flowers (1971). As he worked on his guides, Fitter noted how wildlife and plant diversity were being decimated by human activities. This became the subject of such books as Wildlife for Man: How and Why We Should Conserve Our Species (1986). In later years, Fitter was increasingly involved in conservation, serving as vice chair of Falklands Conservation from 1986 to 1994 and for the Galapagos Conservation Trust, beginning in 1995.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Daily Telegraph (London, England), September 6, 2005.

Independent (London, England), September 5, 2005, p. 51.

Times (London, England), September 10, 2005, p. 74.