Robert A. McCabe | Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame

1914 – 1995
Inducted 1999

“Ecological understanding is the yin and conservation the yang of the environmental – each imperative to adaptation, accommodation and harmony.” — Robert McCabe

During his time as a Professor of the Department of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Robert McCabe educated students and contributed an essential body of research to ecological studies in this state.

McCabe was raised in Milwaukee’s South Side. As a boy, he worked as a bootblack and fish-market helper to make sure his family could make ends meet. He entered Carroll College in Waukesha in 1935 with a football scholarship to cover tuition and a dishwashing job to cover room and board. However, his collegiate sports career did not last so he took an assistantship in biology to replace the scholarship.

A twist of fate landed McCabe in the office of Aldo Leopold (WCHF Inductee) in the University of Wisconsin – Madison for his graduate studies. From that point, the two men shared a close friendship and professional relationship that lasted until Leopold’s death in 1948. At McCabe’s memorial service, Nina Leopold Bradley (WCHF Inductee) spoke of the closeness between her Dad and Robert, saying, “They each brought out the best in the other.”

McCabe received his Ph.D. in 1949 after studying Ring-necked Pheasants. He became chairman of the Department of Wildlife Ecology in 1952. He held this position for 27 years, one of the longest chairmanships ever at UW-Madison. Throughout his career, McCabe was an innovator, always attempting to bring new technology and disparate techniques to bear on the complexities of ecological processes. He was the first to use the precursor to DNA/RNA analysis, and to investigate phylogenetic relationships among birds.

McCabe’s expertise and counsel were sought at the state, national and international levels. Some of the notable assignments he accepted include Chairman of the Research Committee for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Subcommittee of Vertebrate Pests, consultant for the North American Waterfowl Research Foundation, member of the Secretary of the interior’s committee on the use of lead versus steel shot, and consultant for the Department of Interior regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

As a professor, McCabe was known for his sense of humor and personal interactions with his students. Students addressed him as Bob—a practice initiated by Leopold. Even after his retirement, McCabe continued his research, particularly on the Willow Flycatcher, which culminated in the book The Little Green Bird: The Nesting Ecology of the Willow Flycatcher. Then in 1987, McCabe published Aldo Leopold: The Professor, which consisted his personal remembrances about his mentor and earned him the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Award of Merit.