3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Health 305
periods of difficulties but is now so flourishing and productive that one is justified
to be proud to be a member.
I deeply appreciate the resolution passed by the AOU at its recent annual meeting
and am looking forward to continuing this happy association!”
Another festschrift was published by a group of philosophers of biology in
the Mexican journal Ludus Vitalis (edited by F.J. Ayala) with contributions by
17 authors. Also the National Academy of Natural Sciences of the United States
sponsored a colloquium on “Systematics and the Origin of Species: On Ernst Mayr’s
100th Anniversary” which was held in his honor in Irvine, California December
16–18, 2004. Authors of seventeen papers discussed the current knowledge on
speciation (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, Suppl. 1, 2005).
The Bavarian town of Kempten, where Mayr was born, also remembered its
famous son. The mayor congratulated him in a long letter mentioning plans for
naming a local school after him and placing a plaque on the wall of the house now
standing at the site where he was born on the corner of Kotterner and Scheiben
Streets. The plaque was fixed on the wall in 2005 and now reminds passers-by of
the Harvard professor from Kempten.
He enjoyed all those birthday honors in good spirits, although the incessant
interviews eventually became somewhat bothersome. In late July 2004, he wrote me
(trans.): “My head is barely visible above the mountain of birthday cards and letters.
Among these are many from people totally unknown to me. And the interviews
continue, this week again two (over the telephone). Under these circumstances, of
course, I can do none of my own work!” This consisted mainly of the preparation
of two manuscripts, first “Darwin sentence by sentence,” a detailed commentary
on the first edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) and, second, on the topic of
Intelligent Design against which Darwin already published convincing arguments.
As he told me, two of his colleagues agreed to complete these manuscripts.
His scientific knowledge did not provide Ernst Mayr with the secret to his long
life. “If I knew it, I could become very rich by selling this information!” he said and
referred to several of his virtuous habits: He gave up smoking in his late 30s, took
daily long walks, ate sensible diet, took vitamins, and kept his mind busy all the
time with numerous projects and with new plans. The long periods he spent at his
country place in New Hampshire and, in later years, his friendships with younger
people may explain in part the riddle of his long life. According to a press report
fame alone, independently of wealth, may give a life-extending boost and also may
have been a contributing factor.
In the fall of 2004 he was diagnosed with secondary cancerous lesions of his
liver (the primary site was never discovered, but Mayr believed it to be a stomach
cancer) which developed rather slowly. However, he sensed that he would not live
anotherfullyear.Anintestinalinfectionwascuredwiththehelpofantibioticsin
early December, but left him so weakened that he was unable to regain his previous
strength. He had been transferred to the full care center of his retirement home
in early December and he hoped to return to his apartment still doing physical
therapy in late December, when Walter Bock visited him. But he never left the
full care center, where he passed away quietly and peacefully on February 3rd,