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Don was the Thomas Hunt Morgan Professor of Conservation Biology at Columbia University. He spent most of his adult life traveling, working and living around the world. For the past 40 years, he has used molecular genetics to explain aspects of the ecology, behavior, evolution and conservation of animals. The research spanned organisms from frogs to elephants, and continents from Central and South America to Asia and Africa. For the past 15 years, he has also been involved in environmental policy, co-chairing the UN Millennium Task Force on Environmental Sustainability, and providing strategic advice to many countries on environmental issues. According to him, his most rewarding work was in education, from developing an integrated ecology curriculum for middle schools in Brooklyn, to a STEM high school program in Indonesia, to new BA, MA, and PhD programs at Columbia in ecology, evolution and environmental biology.