Bradley C. Livezey, American ornithologist, died from a car accident he was , 56

 Bradley C. Livezey was an American ornithologist died from a car accident he was , 56. His main research included the evolution of flightless birds, the ecology and the behaviour of steamer ducks, genetic analysis of birds, and avian diseases.

(15 June 1954 – 8 February 2011) 

Livezey was born in Massachusetts but grew up mostly in Chicago. He often moved during his childhood. His interest in birds was developed early. Livezey graduated to Bachelor of Science at the Oregon State University in 1976. In 1979 he earned his first Master of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in wildlife ecology and in 1984 his second in mathematics at the University of Kansas. In 1985 he promoted to Ph.D. with his thesis Systematics and flightlessness of steamer-ducks (Anatidae: Tachyeres) at the University of Kansas.
A large part of Livezey's research work dealt with controversial areas of the phylogenetics and taxonomy of birds. While Livezey's colleagues often used DNA analysis to support their research work Livezey demonstrated a more traditional approach based on exhaustive studies of the shape and the characteristics of bones. General interests included phylogenetic relationships of avian families, phylogenetic relationships of waterfowl, evolution of avian flightlessness, comparative osteology of birds, multivariate morphometrics, and avian paleontology
In 1993 Dr. Livezey was employed at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. As curator of the birds department he oversaw around 195,000 bird specimens, the ninth largest bird collection in the United States.
On 8 February 2011 Livezey died in a two-car collision caused by icy road conditions on the Pennsylvania Route 910 near his home in Wexford, Pennsylvania.
Brad Livezeys sister Alyson Hartmann lives in Flossmoor, Illinois and his brother Kent Livezey in Puyallup, Washington.

Works (selected)

• 1992: Taxonomy and identification of steamer-ducks (Anatidae : Tachyeres). Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas
• 2003: Evolution of Flightlessness in Rails (Gruiformes: Rallidae): Phylogenetic, Ecomorphological, and Ontogenetic Perspectives. Ornithological Monographs No. 53
• 2007: Higher-order phylogeny of modern birds (Theropoda, Aves: Neornithes) based on comparative anatomy. II. Analysis and discussion (with Richard Laurence Zusi). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149: 1–95.

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