David Ross Brower (July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was the founder of many environmentalist organizations including the Sierra Club Foundation , the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies , Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council , and Fate of the Earth Conferences . He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. From 1952 to 1969 he served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and served on its board three times: from 1941-1953; 1983-1988; and 1995-2000.
Brower was born in Berkeley, California. He was married to Anne Hus Brower (1913 – 2001). As a skilled mountaineer, he made the first ascent of seventy peaks in Yosemite and elsewhere in the western United States. During World War II he was an officer in the 10th Mountain Division, training its soldiers in mountaineering and cross-country skiing.
Encounters with the Archdruid (1972), by John McPhee, profiled Brower in a few of his conservation battles. (One of his adversaries, developer Charles Fraser, derided environmentalists as "druids." McPhee commented that, with Brower on the scene, Fraser was now confronting the Archdruid. Brower later used the term in his e-mail address.)
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