By Bisola Adeyemo
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey, a Kenya conservationist passed away on Sunday at the age of 77 years.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya announced Mr. Leakey’s death in a statement but did not specify the cause of death.
Mr Leakey died at his home outside Nairobi.
FRS was also a Kenyan palaeoanthropologist, and politician, who has held several official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife conservation.
He became famous when he unearthed evidence that helped prove Mankind evolved in Africa, Africanews reports.
His most famous findings happened in 1984 with the uncovering of an extraordinary, near-complete Homo Erectus skeleton.
During his life, Richard Leakey was also head of Kenya’s Wildlife Service (KWS) where he spearheaded a campaign to end poaching of elephant ivory.