In Memoriam: Former ELI Board Member Nelson Talbott

February 2014
ELI sends its warmest condolences to the family of Nelson “Bud” Talbott, who passed away on February 7 at the age of 93.  Bud, an ELI board member from 1979-84 and friend of the Institute for decades, was a philanthropist for natural resource conservation in the greater Cleveland area. He personally funded the acquisition and permanent protection of literally thousands of acres of wetlands, prairies and forest in Ohio, a monumental effort that earned him the 2009 Environmental Achievement Award from the Ohio Environmental Council. He served the boards of organizations such as the Cleveland Zoological Society and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and was founder of the Ohio Conservation Foundation. Bud hails from an illustrious family: his father, Nelson S. Talbott was a head coach of the Dayton Triangles of the "Ohio League" and later a charter member of the National Football League; his uncle, Harold E. Talbott, was the third Secretary of the Air Force; his son Strobe Talbott is president of the Brookings Institution and served as Deputy Secretary of State under President Clinton; another son, Kirk, has served at ELI as a Visiting Scholar, and his daughter, Marjo Talbott, is the head of Washington, DC’s prestigious Maret School. ELI is honored to have been associated with him and his family for so many years.