Former Head of Public Service Dr Richard Leakey has died aged 77.
The news of his demise was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday, January 2, 2022 through a statement to newsrooms.
Kenyatta celebrated Leakey for his prominent role in Kenya's vibrant civil society where he founded and successfully ran a number of institutions among them the conservation organization Wildlife Direct.
"Dr Leakey, a globally renown Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist, has over the years served our country with distinction in several public service roles among them as Director of the National Museums of Kenya and Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service Board of Directors.
“On behalf of the people of Kenya, my family and on my own behalf, I send heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the family, friends and associates of Dr. Richard Leakey during this difficult period of mourning," Kenyatta stated.
In previous interviews, Leakey disclosed that he had stared into the eyes of death on numerous occasions.
The expert stated that the first time his life flashed before his eyes was when he fell off a horse and fractured his skull as a kid.
A few years later, a puff adder, one of the deadliest snakes in the world, bit him. His father, Louis Leakey, had intervened and injected him with an anti-venom.
In 1979, his kidney malfunctioned and doctors started a countdown on how long he would live. His wife, however, donated her kidney to him.
Later, his kidney failed and his friend was gracious enough to donate his.
In 1993, Leakey lost control of a light aircraft he was flying and it crashed on the ground. He would wake up at the Nairobi Hospital where he received treatment.
