A life well lived; Pamela Anne Isdell

There is a poem often shared by people who’ve experienced the loss of a loved one.  Its opening lines go like this:

Few merit those sentiments more than long time BirdLife supporter and member of our BirdLife Advisory Group, Pamela Anne Isdell. We join her family and friends in mourning their recent loss.

Pamela met the love of her life, Neville, in Zambia where they both grew up. Their enduring marriage of 55 years has immeasurably strengthened the conservation of birds and nature. Perhaps the two birds who have most benefited from their generosity are penguins and vultures.

Pamela first fell in love with birds when living in Zambia and on regular visits to Cape Town, taking regular walks along the coast. She was enchanted by the African penguins playing in the surf and this blossomed into a lifelong passion for birds.

Pamela first joined the BirdLife family through her friends and network in Africa almost 20 years ago and quickly became a strong supporter in The President’s Circle, a group of visionary, high level global champions of BirdLife’s work.  She enthusiastically participated in events and was always promoting Africa.

Feature Photo: African Penguin © Dan Callister

Pamela joined with Wendy Paulson and Nathalie Boulle promoting the development of a BirdLife Advisory Group to help the CEO of BirdLife with strategic advice and support when this new group was formed in 2010. Her role there quickly became an unofficial ambassador for African birds and their conservation, and this grew into a strong relationship with BirdLife Partners in the region.  She maintained vibrant relations with bird conservationists in her beloved Zambia, nurturing and supporting Birdwatch Zambia, and also recognised the plight of African vultures giving great support.  However, her first love was always the African Penguin becoming BirdLife species champion for this emblematic species.

Along with her husband Neville they developed a very strong relationship with the team at BirdLife South Africa, enthusiastically supporting CEO Mark Anderson as he charted the growth of the organisation with great success. Most notable was their providing significant resources for the purchase and renovation of Isdell House, BirdLife South Africa’s head office in Johannesburg.  She also led the 100+ Hectare club of BirdLife South Africa’s Mouse-Free Marion Project by sponsoring 150 hectares to be protected through the eradication of the island’s predatory mice. This was at the time the largest donation received.

Mark D. Anderson, BirdLife South Africa’s CEO, said, “Pamela was an exceptionally kind person, and she cared deeply for her family and her friends. She also cared for Africa’s natural environment and donated generously to many conservation causes. Her favourite bird was the African Penguin, and she sponsored the “Pamela Isdell Fellow of Penguin Conservation” at BirdLife South Africa and she provided the funding for the establishment of the new mainland African Penguin colony at De Hoop Nature Reserve. Pamela and her husband, Neville, were particularly generous to BirdLife South Africa, from the funding of conservation positions to financing the purchase and renovation of Isdell House, the organisation’s head office in Johannesburg. The Isdells have without doubt been BirdLife South Africa’s most significant benefactor during the past decade and, with their support, the organisation and ultimately South Africa’s birds are better off.”

The Isdell Family Foundation recently made an additional US$500,000 donation to the Mouse-Free Marion Project.  According to Anderson, this was one of Pamela’s last wishes.

The family’s philanthropy extended well beyond BirdLife and included WWF, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Peace Parks South Africa, among many other beneficiaries too numerous to mention.

Vultures too have received important help from Pamela and Neville, and Cara Isdell-Lee their daughter, through The Isdell Family Foundation. Across Africa, vultures are amongst the most threatened bird species. Although vultures play a vital role in cleaning thereby reducing the potential spread of diseases, their populations have drastically reduced in recent years, driven by various factors including poisoning, belief-based use, electrocution and collision with energy infrastructure and habitat loss among others. Chief among the significant actions taken by Pamela was funding the role of Lovelater Sebele, BirdLife’s Senior Vulture Conservation Officer for Southern Africa.

Martin Harper, BirdLife’s CEO, said “Pamela, and Neville, turned their passion for Zambia and southern Africa into an enduring testament to effective conservation through magnificent generosity targeted at the species and habitats most in need. We shall be forever grateful for them.”

Gary Allport, BirdLife’s Senior Advisor to the CEO, has worked with  Pamela for decades and said, “Just yesterday, Pamela’s beloved African Penguins received the very good news that areas around six of their colonies will be closed to purse-seine fishing, which offers them a critical reprieve from that menacing activity, a result of great campaigning by BirdLife South Africa. I can only imagine Pamela’s joy at this news; and she lives-on in the future of this characterful bird, an emblem of her vitality and grace.”

But perhaps most important are Pamela’s own words, as reported by WWF in 2013. “I think that the most important thing we must realize is that everyone—even just one person—can make a difference. And remember that you don’t have to be anybody important. We need one person here, and one person there, standing up for nature. And the more people we have like that, working together, the more positive it will be.”