A salute to John Fitzpatrick, retiring director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology after 26 years of distinguished service!

After leading the staff and direction of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for more than a quarter century, John Fitzpatrick will always be known as a lifelong birder, gifted speaker, great listener, intrepid explorer, acclaimed scientist, and visionary director of the Lab. These are some of the qualities that John Fitzpatrick wove into the fabric of the Cornell Lab during the past 26 years, and together they create in “Fitz” that rare ability to make the impossible possible, and the ordinary, extraordinary.

During his storied time at the helm of the Cornell Lab, Fitzpatrick transformed it from a respected research institution into a world-recognized authority for citizen participation in science – especially birding – plus bioacoustics, big-data science, evolutionary biology, conservation film-making, and public outreach and engagement. Through it all, he’s embodied the Lab’s twin ideals of academic excellence and popular approachability, carrying on Lab founder Arthur Allen’s famous challenge to “throw open the doors to ornithology” so that anyone can participate.

Through each chapter of his career, Fitz has never lost his childhood reverence for the beauty, complexity, and wonder of birds. Those are the same qualities that captivate tens of millions of birders worldwide, and make birds such a potent force for global conservation – the ultimate goal of all John Fitzpatrick’s endeavors over the years.

To review an exceptional collection of photographs and selected milestones in Dr. Fitzpatrick’s career at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, see https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/thank-you-fitz Fitz is succeeded by Ian Owens, recent director of the American Museum of Natural History among other distinguished positions during his career.