European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Richard Leakey Magazine by Kevin Mckean associated press during those Brash and impatient years when he shocked the scientific Community and As did his to be one of the worlds Premier Richard Leakey hid the fact that his health was failing and his time seemed it was unknown to his colleagues who visited his Korobi fora campsite near Kenya Lake where Fossil finds in the desolate wasteland pushed Back human history half a million even his the renowned and flamboyant Anthro list Louis died without learning his sons it was until last to his Mary herself an outstanding and to the three Brothers who completed a clan that Leakey himself once called a Strong family with a lot of family loyalties but not the shared by his was that since 1968 he had been suffering from progressive kidney this conies out reluctantly in a rare and retrospective there was no his kidneys eventually would cease to function doctors could not predict How soon and he would need either kidney dialysis treatments or a transplant to stay unlike Many for wealth or Access to Western a diagnosis of kidney disease is a death Leakey could be reasonably assured of but the eight hour sessions on dialysis would Force an end to Field work and possibly a move away from his native where dialysis was not and there was no guarantee should a transplant be a donor could be so what does one do in these situations one either worries about it and spends the rest of ones time involved in the or one ignores i chose to ignore he so i went about my but with a certain sense of urgency about concluding certain who perhaps my angry Young Man image was partly a result of dealing with this i dont i did get a Little More time than i Leakey now that a kidney transplant from brother Philip has restored his the transplant operation in London followed Leakey collapse from massive kidney failure in Nairobi the previous accelerating disease had forced him to trim his schedule the year at Leakey is embarked on a Hal dozen ranging from a television series to an ambitious new Field project in the Long secret illness is not a subject he likes to Ive no interest in dwelling upon my i Haven had Ive been very he but on a recent visit to the United looking Fuller of face and rudder of assessed the changes in his life brought on by transplant and eventual i had apparently a reputation for being determined to get things pushing i was alleged to have this extraordinary sense of urgency about my in sure i i think i still have he but surely a Large part of my stimulus was a self awareness that i didst wish to because it want anybody that one  sit around and wait for things to for those who Haven been in that that s difficult to but if you Are facing a possibly foreshortened natural i can assure you it s quite easy to become the kidney disease was a rare complication of a bacterial infection a common sore Throat that Leakey caught in october it was the month after he began work at Lake Turk Ana and the month before he became head of Kenya National museums at the age of the Young Leakey already had demonstrated a habit of impatience he skipped College to earn Money leading then passed the College Entrance exams and dropped out to begin a career in he seemed obsessed As he and his sharpened tribes men made a rapid series of enviable Fossil finds including the nearly Complete Skull of a Large rained he a anthropologist Richard Leakey had kidney transplant in 1979 from his i did get a Little More time than i Leakey now that a kidney transplant from brother Philip has restored his Man ancestor which proved that human like intelligence evolved at least two million years with his museum Leakey exercised influence Over which scientists could work in like his he rushed Back and Forth Between Africa and the lecture Halls of Europe and the United becoming a prominent spokesman for science of Early Man and a source of like his the younger Leakey was criticized for stubborn insistence on his own a Sharp i have no wish to appear to be excusing myself for being bad tempered or unduly Leakey now i dont want people to he cant be such a sad Guy because he was if i was a bad i was a bad but i am saying that people who Are living under this sort of constraint will often push a Little harder than those who because there is a time but i was conscious constantly that i didst have an open ended when his kidneys finally and the family Learned of the All his Brothers offered but tissue typing showed that the youngest 30yearold was a perfect Philip could not donate the Organ immediately since he was running for Kenya two weeks after winning the Post in the 8 he came to London and the transplant was on return to one of Leakey first projects has been to help raise Money for a kidney foundation for two thirds of the Cost of Leakey own illness had been borne by the kenyan also in the works Are a seven part bbl series to be aired next Spring an Institute of primate research for and a new push for the new Yor based foun Dation for research into the origin of a fundraising and educational group set up by Leakey and others in Philip a kenyan j where some sedimentary i formations Are millions of years older than the Fossil Rich East Leakey has acquired a new i used to get quite upset and fight very hard Over things i believed now an organization or an expedition should be now in prepared to stand Back and look at in not prepared to get caught up in things that Are going to make me or other people january 1981 the stars and stripes Page 13