David Suzuki

David Suzuki has five children, three of them from his first wife Setsuko Joane Sunahara, his high school sweetheart and two from his present wife Tara Elizabeth Cullis, whom he married in 1972.

‘The David Suzuki Foundation’, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada is a nonprofit organization founded by him in 1991 to work for balancing human needs with the earth’s ability to sustain life.

David Suzuki was one of the twins born to Setsu Nakamaru and Kaoru Carr Suzuki in Vancouver, Canada. Apart from his twin sister, Marcia, he had two other siblings, Geraldine and Dawn.

In 1942, during the Second World War, the family was interned in a camp at Slocan in the British Columbian Interior, and his father was sent to work in a labor camp in Solsqua.

When World War ended in 1945, his family shifted to Islington, Learnington where he attended Mill Street Elementary School and Learington Secondary School. Here, his interest in the environmental studies was stimulated by his father.

The family then shifted to London, Ontario and he began to attend London Central Secondary School. His popularity is attested by the fact that he became the Students' Council President by a massive majority.

He graduated in Biology in 1958, from Amherst College in Massachusetts where he became fascinated with the study of genetics, and completed his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Chicago, three years later.

He became a professor in the Genetics Department at the University of British Colombia in 1963. He devoted his career as an academician to genetic research using fruit flies as the model.

He began his television career with the children’s program, Suzuki on Science, in 1970. The initial episodes of the series echoed the host’s specialty of genetics but, the later ones encompassed other areas.

In 1974, he hosted on CBC AM radio, a programe called ‘Quirks & Quarks’. The show had the host interviewing scientists and a panel of scientists replying to listener’s questions.

From 1975 till the end of the decade, he hosted a weekly television program called ‘Science Magazine’, which targeted the adult audience. There were interviews, science updates and segments like ‘How Things Work’.

Since 1979, he has been hosting ‘The Nature of Things’, a television series on CBC. The program intends to create awareness about the threats faced by wildlife, and benefits of renewable energy.

David Suzuki’s 1985 serial, ‘A planet for the Taking’, called for a major perceptual shift towards nature. Each of the episodes of this acclaimed series was watched by an estimated 1.8 million people per episodes.

‘David Suzuki: The Autobiography’, published in 2006, traces his life from childhood to his current celebrity status. It was No. 1 on Maclean's list of non-fiction bestsellers in Canada for four weeks.