Lucy Wisdom, Founder of SOS, sadly died on 19th December 2009. The Lucy Wisdom Fund has been established in Lucy's memory, to provide a scholarship for Indonesian postgraduate university students to study orangutans, and to purchase forest land in Sumatra. All donations to the Lucy Wisdom Fund are greatly appreciated.
Please click here to read Lucy's obituary from The Independent newspaper, and here for her obituary in The Guardian.
We have received many messages from all around the world, and would like to share some here. If you would like to send us your own tribute, please click here
I was thinking of Lucy while watching the New Year's Eve fireworks over Udaipur - each one too short-lived, but burning bright and leaving a lasting memory of dynamic beauty. My wife and I raised a glass to Lucy's memory and to the future success of the work she began.
Lucy has been and will remain an inspiration to many - both for her passionate concern for endangered species and the way she responded to her illness. It is rare enough for someone to be moved to set up a charity and do something about solving a major problem such as the plight of Sumatra's amazing orangutans, let alone to do so while battling cancer. We will miss Lucy's energy and passion for life, and I am sure I speak for all in the Ape Alliance when I say that our meetings will never quite be the same again. Few people better exemplify Abraham Lincoln's comment, "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
2010 is the UN International Year of Biodiversity - and thanks to Lucy and all who continue her work in the Sumatran Orangutan Society and wider conservation community, there will be a bit more diversity of life in Sumatra in the New Year and the coming decades!
Ian Redmond, OBE, Chairman of the Ape Alliance
____________________________________________________________________________
I had huge admiration for her both as a person battling her illness for so long with such dignity and courage and for all that she has done for SOS since its inception which of course was down to her. My guess is that she used the same dogged determination and guts not to be defeated. It will I hope be a lasting legacy. She will be sorely missed.
Michael Cooper, SOS Patron
____________________________________________________________________________
I am still reeling on hearing about Lucy's passing. I knew, of course, about her long battle with cancer. I also knew she was a fighter for so many years - her mission to save the orangutans, I am sure, kept her going well past her doctor's original prognosis. My initial memories are of a smiling and bubbling English gal with red streaks in her hair at the 1991 Great Apes Conference in Jakarta where she showed her passion for orangutans. I also saw her in 1998 in Kuching, and at other primate venues, and we kept in touch, sporadically, over the years. She did so much to move SOS forward where it has become a major force and advocate for orangutans in Sumatra. I am very proud to be working with the dedicated people she has brought aboard, and know her efforts to build SOS were never easy, but rewarding to her. I hope we will continue to work together on projects, like the Orangutan Caring Scholarship, in the years to come with the spirit of cooperation that was a core characteristic of that smiling and bubbling English gal I will always remember.
Gary Shapiro, President, Orangutan Republik Foundation
____________________________________________________________________________
It seemed like Lucy could conquer anything
- even the worst adversities.
So sad to hear that this warmhearted
person is no more.
I am very sure though that her spirit
will live on and wherever her soul travels to - it will be a happy journey.
Lucy's passing away surely makes us
realize we should live every day to the fullest.
Inge Huijbrechts, Belgium, former SOS Bali coordinator
____________________________________________________________________________
I knew Lucy only briefly but the connection was absolute. She was a great supportive & inspirational Human Being. My condolences to you and all who were fortunate enough to be touched by her spirit . May love surround her and you all who carry on the sacred work.
John Lewis, Australia
____________________________________________________________________________
I met Lucy in bali in 2008. I was travelling with a mutual friend and Lucy welcomed me into her home.
It wasn't long before i started to see the wonderful person she was and she shared many stories of her
life. There was a photograph of her on her fridge with an orangutan drapped around her neck, it
reminded me of the soup advert "A hug in a mug" The Orangutan looked so at peace wrapped around
Lucy's neck and it was obvious Lucy had an amazing connection with these primates. Unfortunately i
met Lucy a couple of weeks later at the Airport and she told me that the Orangutan from the photo,
her friend for 25 Years had been shot numerous times and killed for taking food from a farmers garden.
Its own home had been replaced by palm plantations and the Orangutan was hungry. I felt so
enraged and upset by the story and so inspired by Lucy and all her hard work that i began to
volunteer for SOS.
Lucy was an amazing, courageous human being i feel honoured to have met her.
Tara Harley, SOS Volunteer