Brower, David

Brower, David (Ross) (1912–  ) conservationist; born in Berkeley, Calif. He quit the University of California during his sophomore year, clerked in a candy factory and worked for the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park before joining the University of California Press as an editor in 1941. In 1952 he became executive director of the Sierra Club and soon developed a reputation as a militant environmentalist. Under his leadership, the Sierra Club blocked billions of dollars worth of construction projects in wilderness areas. Sierra Club conservatives forced him from the post in 1969. He then formed the John Muir Institute and Friends of the Earth; the latter group initiated the first Earth Day, April 22, 1969.