Nicholson, Max

▪ 2004

      British ornithologist, environmentalist, and civil servant (b. July 12, 1904, Kilternan, County Dublin, Ire.—d. April 26, 2003, London, Eng.), cofounded (1961), with Julian Huxley, Peter Scott, and Guy Mountfort (q.v. (Mountfort, Guy Reginald )), the World Wildlife Fund (now WWF) and was instrumental in the creation of the government-sponsored Nature Conservancy (now English Nature), of which he was director general (1952–66). Nicholson studied history at Hertford College, Oxford, and was a cofounder (1932) and chairman (1947–49) of the British Trust for Ornithology. As a civil servant, he was a member of the Advisory Committee on Scientific Policy (1948–64) and chaired the organizing committee (1951) of the first Festival of Britain. He also established two think tanks, and from 1966 he was chairman of Land Use Consultants, which sought to persuade industry to take responsibility for the environment. Nicholson was the author of several books and a contributor to the nine-volume The Birds of the Western Palearctic (1965–92). He was awarded the WWF Gold Medal in 1982.

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