Pioneering scientist Suzuki reflects on his life’s work

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2026 (207 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is hard to believe that Vancouver’s David Suzuki, an internationally renowned geneticist and environmental activist best-known in Canada for his popular television series The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, turns 90 years old on March 24.

Co-authored with Ian Hanington, David Suzuki: Lessons from a Lifetime is part autobiography and part celebratory tribute to Suzuki’s long and accomplished life. Both informative and entertaining, it is absolutely brimming with photographs, letters and tributes from friends, family and colleagues.

At times, Suzuki’s contributions are intimate glimpses into his personal life, beginning from when he was a young boy in an internment camp for Japanese-Canadians “housed in rotting buildings with glassless windows.”

In other later sections Suzuki shares his thoughts and reflections on science and the environment and where we are today.

These sections on scientific matters can be a bit more academic and challenging to read for the novice or general reader. The language used and the information expressed is a tad more technical and complex.

In the more personal sections, Suzuki writes about his own children, five in all from two different marriages. His second and current marriage to Tara Cullis has lasted over 50 years.

“Getting Tara to marry me was the greatest achievement of my life,” Suzuki says, also writing lovingly about his children and grandchildren.

In 2015, Suzuki dedicated the beautiful and moving book Letters to my Grandchildren, also an enjoyable read, to his grandchildren.

This celebratory new book highlights many of Suzuki’s amazing accomplishments. Aside from being a geneticist and a renowned environmental activist, he is also the author of more than 50 books and the founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting the natural environment and of which Cullis is president. He has received countless awards and honours.

Accompanying Suzuki’s own words and thoughts on the environment are numerous photographs and letters (mainly tributes) from family as well as politicians, celebrities, friends and colleagues including Neil Young, Margaret Atwood, Justin Trudeau and many more.

In his reflections, Suzuki cannot help but leave us with a warning. “This is a sad time to depart from this life,” he writes. “I have witnessed the disappearance and destruction of so much of the natural world that I loved. Our trajectory to dominance of the planet has been spectacular, but we have not fully comprehended the price of that success.”

Suzuki’s fans will surely enjoy and treasure this latest celebration of his outstanding achievements over so many years on this amazing planet we call Earth.

Cheryl Girard is an Interlake writer.