Stan Braude, a professor of practice in biology and in environmental studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died at home Saturday, June 1, 2024, after a short illness. He was 62.
Braude earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in biology at the University of Michigan, spending summers at the university’s Biological Station in northern Michigan. He worked in Kenya for more than 20 years, becoming a world expert on naked mole-rat ecology, evolution and behavior in the wild. He also worked in Argentina, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda and locally in Missouri.
In addition to his naked mole-rat research, Braude published articles and textbook materials on many different topics in ecology, evolution and conservation biology over the years, including elephant behavior, rhinoceros inbreeding and the evolution of dogs, as well as his research on dragonflies, tuco-tucos, giant pouched rats and cave salamanders. Braude was also interested in human biology — publishing research on Barr Bodies, differential blood counts and the evolution of humor, for example — and proposed several theories on medically relevant topics including testosterone levels, inflammatory bowel disease and the oncoprotective fever hypothesis.
Braude began his teaching career at Washington University in 1992 as a lecturer in University College, now known as the School of Continuing & Professional Studies, and started teaching full time in the Department of Biology in 1997.
He taught classes in human anatomy and physiology; advanced wilderness medicine; Missouri’s natural heritage (an Ampersand program class); and the woody plants of Missouri, among others. When teaching about the biology of dog breeds, Braude brought his oversized dogs to campus to participate in classes.