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Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,798
Registered: ‎07-24-2013

Celebrated Wildlife Photographer Peter Beard was found dead near his home in the Hamptons near Montauk. He had been missing from his home since March 31st. He was 82 and sadly, suffered from dementia.  He leaves a wife, Nejma Beard, and daughter Zara.

 

Beard's career was quite prolific: he had published books on his Wildlife photography including The End of the Game published in 1965, covering the threatened beauty of the African wilderness, especially the Elephant.

 

Beard also photographed top models for editorial fashion shoots and fashion campaigns, and was briefly married, in the early '70s,  to supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. He enjoyed the party life and was a fixture at Studio 54 and  claimed to have "discovered"  the fashion model Iman claiming she had been a goat herd with no knowledge of English. In fact, Iman was the educated daughter of a diplomat, yet for a time she did go along with Beard's yarn, actually appearing wth him at press conferences wearing bone necklaces pretending to know just a few words of English.

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,327
Registered: ‎02-07-2011

I read his obit in the NY Times.  He had an interesting life, to say the least.  Did not know that he had "discovered" Iman until I read it in the paper.  RIP.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,218
Registered: ‎11-08-2014

Oh, that is sad.  I remember from a biography of Lee Radziwill, his association with the Bouvier sisters.  I think he and Lee were involved at one point.  Here he is with Jackie in his younger days.  RIP.

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 23,835
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

How sad for his family to find him  over 1/2 a month later....they must have worried terribly🙁

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,632
Registered: ‎04-03-2010

I recognized his name right away when I saw the post.  Didn't know all that much about him but seemed to recall his name associated w/various fashion models over the years.

 

Quite a handsome man in his younger years.  Dementia is just such an awful condition.  I'm glad he was found and can now be remembered for the interesting life he led.  Beautiful photo of the giraffes.  I'd be nice to have a coffee table book of photos of wildlife taken in their natural habitat of Africa.  Such beautiful creatures.

Flowers are nature's way of laughing