The passing of Ralph J. Raitt on 12 December 2000 ended a lifetime of dedication to high professional standards and personal integrity. His death, in the midst of the planning for yet another of his beloved fishing trips to the mountains of northern New Mexico, was sudden and unexpected. He was preceded in death by his first wife Imogene. He is survived by their two sons James Raitt of Houston, Texas, and Bill Raitt of Albuquerque, New Mexico, his brother Tom Raitt of St. Paul, Minnesota, and his second wife, Helen Raitt of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Ralph was first and foremost a scholar who sought truth in all he undertook. He was known for his kindness, his candor, and his dislike of hypocrisy. He was liked and respected by his peers and cherished and revered by his students. He formed enduring friendships, best typified by the annual fishing trip he enjoyed each year with high school friends from California. His many friends recognized and appreciated the loyalty he expressed in so many ways. For example, he picked up a disabled colleague for the weekly gathering of retired faculty members at a local coffee shop, and took another disabled friend on an extended fishing trip to a remote mountain site. There seemed no end to his personal generosity and consideration of others.
Family was very important to Ralph. On long research trips to remote areas of Mexico, I often heard him express how much he missed his boys. On longer research trips to Central and South America, his family often accompanied him. He made his family an important part of his life and his work.
Ralph's lifelong passion for the outdoors centered on hunting and fishing, and eventually brought him to the field of biology. Born in Santa Ana, California on 9 February 1929, Ralph graduated form Ventura High School in 1946. At Stanford University, he chose geology as his major before discovering that zoology was his real obsession; he completed his BA in 1950. He went on to graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked on California Quail (Lophortyx californicus) under the direction of Starker Leopold. After one year in graduate school, a two-year stint in the army delayed his return to Berkeley to complete his studies. Hired a year before he completed his Ph.D. in 1959, he spent his entire career at New Mexico State University until 1990, and then stayed to retire in his beloved Las Cruces.
Ralph was a classically trained field ornithologist, schooled in the importance of meticulous field notes, careful observation, and thorough documentation. As an avid scientific collector and preparer, he served as Curator of Birds in the Department of Biology from 1958 to 1990, and did much to build the scientific collection. His research included classic works on quail, bushtits, Mexican and South American thrushes, New World jays, and others. Much of this work was conducted at rugged undeveloped locations in the western United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. He, with his field companions, would establish a remote camp that served as temporary home, laboratory, and museum while heading out daily for weeks at a time to make observations, record data, and collect specimens. Some of his research was close to home, and some involved the birds and bird communities of the Chihuahuan Desert. Much of that was done in conjunction with his many graduate students, with support from the National Science Foundation, and other sources. Rich in diversity and productivity, his research brought many new insights to Neotropical ornithology.
Ralph was an effective and dedicated scientist whose many accomplishments advanced the profession and brought recognition to his institution. Among his more notable achievements was a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, which allowed him to conduct research in Costa Rica and Venezuela during 1967–1968. In recognition of his many research accomplishments, he received his University's most distinguished honor, the Westhafer Award, in 1970. He was a Fulbright-Hays Senior Lecturer at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia in 1976, and a Visiting Lecturer in Ecology at Escuela Superior de Agricultura “Hermanos Escobar” in Mexico in 1980. Ralph joined the AOU in 1955, became an Elected Member in 1967 and a Fellow in 1976. He served as Editor of The Condor, 1969 to 1971, and of Studies in Avian Biology from 1974 to 1985. As in his personal life, Ralph's professional life was one of true distinction, yet always tempered by humility, subtlety and careful introspection.
Ralph Raitt leaves a professional legacy in the understanding his research brought to the fields of ornithology and ecology, the purposeful direction he imparted to the journals he edited, and perhaps most importantly the effect his conscientious and effective tutelage had on the scores of students he taught and directed. He will be remembered by many and missed by all.
