On March 13, 2026, longtime RMBL scientist Paul Ehrlich, PhD, passed away in Palo Alto, California, at age 93. Paul was an eminent biologist who wrote or co-authored more than 1,100 scientific papers and articles and over 50 books, many with his wife, Anne. The following tribute, written by RMBL scientist and board member Dan Blumstein, accompanied a Scott Wissinger Lifetime Service Award presented to Paul and Anne last year in recognition of their significant contributions to RMBL.  

In honor of Paul’s passion for science and his longstanding support of RMBL, the family asks that donations be made to RMBL in his memory. 

Paul and Anne Ehrlich first arrived at RMBL in the summer of 1960 with their four-year-old daughter, Lisa, in tow. Paul was an assistant professor of biology at Stanford University, looking for a site where he could continue his long-term studies on the evolution of butterflies in the summer. Anne was his assistant, working primarily as a biological illustrator. She spent long hours dissecting butterfly genitalia under the microscope and drawing what she saw. In those early days, Paul spent time studying Erebia epipsodea, a common Alpine butterfly, and a variety of “little blues,” lycaenid butterflies common in the RMBL area. Studying the latter, Paul and his plant biologist colleague Peter Raven discovered an evolutionary interaction between the lycaenid butterflies and their lupine food plants: the plants had evolved a poison to prevent herbivory by the lycaenid caterpillars, but the butterflies, in turn, evolved enzymes to break down the poison. Subsequent generations of the plant evolved a slightly different poison resistant to the enzymes, and then later generations of the butterflies evolved more successful enzymes. In their landmark paper, “Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution,” published jointly in 1964, Ehrlich and Raven coined the term “coevolution” and launched a major new line of evolutionary research.  

For their first summer, the Ehrlichs lived in Oh Be Joyful, but soon concluded that if they wanted to spend many summers at RMBL, they should build a cabin of their own. In the summer of 1961, they broke ground for the “Ehrlich cabin.” From 1960 until their final year at RMBL (2017), when the altitude became too challenging for Anne’s asthma, they missed only two summers — when they were on sabbatical in Australia. During those two summers, 1965 and 1966, the cabin was used by Ken Armitage and his family before they built their own in South Gothic. Ken had been on Paul’s PhD committee at the University of Kansas, and they had become good friends. Ken was trying to get some long-term research going at Flathead Lake and was running into difficulties, so Paul suggested he come to Gothic. Thus began another very successful long-term association for RMBL. 

They were outspoken advocates for modernization of the laboratories at RMBL, and Anne served on the RMBL Board of Trustees from 1989 to 1999. Paul recruited highly recognized colleagues to RMBL, including Ken Armitage, Michael Soulé, John and Cheri Holdren, John and Mel Harte, Steve Schneider, Peter Brussard, Cheri Holdren, and Greg Florant. Paul also organized the first class ever taught at RMBL featuring prominent evolutionary biologists as instructors, including John Holdren, Joan Roughgarden, and other internationally known colleagues. 

Paul and Anne’s passion to protect the environment was fed every year by their time at Gothic. Paul gave a public lecture in Crested Butte during many summers that was well attended by people from Crested Butte and Gunnison, bringing notoriety to the RMBL and inspiring the public to be active in conservation. In addition, they are highly regarded for their books and publications, many inspired by work done in Gothic, and recognized globally as important contributions to national conservation attention and policy. 

— Professor Daniel T. Blumstein
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
University of California, Los Angeles