Amy Vedder

Who is Amy Vedder?

Amy Vedder is an ecologist and primatologist, known especially for her conservation work with mountain gorillas. She was the Class of 1969 valedictorian at Canajoharie High School, Canajoharie, NY, and a 1973 graduate of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA.

Vedder worked in Africa for the Peace Corps from 1973 to 1975. In 1978 she arrived in Rwanda with her husband, William Weber, to study gorillas at Karisoke, the research station run by Dian Fossey.

After getting a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1989, she became Biodiversity Coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society, and then later director of the conservation of the WCS's Africa Program.

One of Vedder's major contributions was to implement the Mountain Gorilla Project, which sought to involve local Rwandans and use ecotourism to help conserve the gorillas.

Vedder has two sons, Noah and Ethan.