Frans de Waal: Acclaimed primatologist and impactful Big Thinker
Primatologist Frans de Waal, who studied the emotional and psychological similarities between humans and apes, died on March 14, 2024. He passed from stomach cancer at his home in Stone Mountain, Ga., and is survived by his wife of 40 years, Catherine Marin, and his brothers. He was 75 years old.
“It’s difficult to sum up the enormity of [his] impact,” Lynne Nygaard, chair of the department of psychology at Emory University, said in the school’s tribute to his life and career. “He was an extraordinarily deep thinker who could also think broadly, making insights that cut across disciplines.”
“Frans” was born Franciscus Bernardus Maria de Waal in 1948. He trained as a zoologist and ethologist in his native Netherlands and received his PhD in biology from the University of Utrecht in 1977.
His first major contribution to primatology came at the beginning of his career. Over a six-year project, he studied how chimpanzees reconciled after fights and showed they engaged in activities such as embracing, giving peace offerings, and grooming each other. The project proved a milestone in primate cognition studies.
