Richard Hall Tedford was Curator Emeritus

Emeritus

Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

 in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, having been named as curator in 1969.

Born in Encino, California, he received a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

 with a major in chemistry and earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 in 1959.

Tedford was one of the foremost authorities on the evolution of Carnivores and had been working, often with Prof. Xiaoming Wang

Xiaoming Wang

Xiaoming Wang is a noted paleontologist and geologist born in People's Republic of China living in the United States.-Area of expertise:Dr. Wang specializes in the fossil evolution, systematics, and phylogeny of mammals of the Cenozoic...

, on the fossil history of the Canidae

Canidae

Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...

 establishing the basis on the evolutionary relationship of canids over the past one hundred years.

Tedford was a resident of Demarest, New Jersey

Demarest, New Jersey

Demarest is a Borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,881.Demarest was formed by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1903, from portions of Harrington Township and Palisades Township. The borough was named...

 at the time of his death on July 15, 2011, having earlier lived in nearby Cresskill

Cresskill, New Jersey

Cresskill is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,573. The town got its name from the watercress that grew in its streams, or "kills"....

. After suffering from colon cancer, his death followed a skull fracture that resulted from an accidental fall in his home.

Publications

• Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (Carnivora, Canidae) 2009 http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5999/1/B325.pdf
• Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford, ISBN 978-0-231-13529-0
• Phylogenetic systematics of the Borophaginae (Carnivora, Canidae) / Xiaoming Wang, Richard H. Tedford, Beryl E. Taylor. New York : American Museum of Natural History, c1999.
• The terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene transition in North America, 433–452. New York: Cambridge University Press, Wang, X.-M., and R.H. Tedford. 1996. Canidae. In D.R. Prothero and R.J. Emry (editors)
• Ancestry: evolutionary history, molecular systematics, and evolutionary ecology of Canidae. The biology and conservation of wild canids. New York: Oxford University Press, Wang, X.-M., R.H. Tedford, B. Van Valkenburgh, and R.K. Wayne. 2004.
• Review of some Carnivora (Mammalia) from the Thomas Farm local fauna (Hemingfordian, Gilchrist County, Florida) by Richard H. Tedford, American Museum of Natural History, 1976