Sherwood L. Washburn; UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor, Primatologist

Sherwood Larned Washburn, 88, a UC Berkeley primatologist who studied the evolution of human behavior by observing monkeys and apes. A popular teacher whose lectures earned standing ovations, Washburn taught anthropology at Berkeley from 1958 until his retirement in 1978 and was among a handful named “university professor” of the entire nine-campus system. Earlier he had taught at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, and in 1969 was named a trustee of Stanford University. Washburn was among the early leaders who helped establish the study of primatology, after observing baboon colonies in Kenya in the 1950s. More than 40 years ago, he suggested that humans had evolved from an ancestor that walked on its knuckles, akin to great apes of today. The theory has been revived by others in the last year. Washburn also theorized that tool use, hunting and a gender division in labor were critical in human evolution. He infused the study of anthropology with a holistic approach--relating anatomy to function and social behavior in humans and other primates. Born in Cambridge, Mass., Washburn earned his degrees at Harvard University. On Sunday in Berkeley of pneumonia.