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Robert Trivers

American biologist (1943–2026)

  • 6 min read
  • 4 chapters
Sociobiologist Robert Trivers speaking at University of California, Santa Cruz on October 10, 1978
Lois Nelson · Public domain

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Background

Robert Trivers was born in Washington, D.C., on February 19, 1943, the son of Mildred Trivers, a poet and Howard Trivers. His father was an American academic and US State Department diplomat who played a key role in the denazification of post-war Germany, taking part in negotiations at the Potsdam Conference, 1947 Moscow Conference, and the 1949 Paris Conference, later involved in developing US policy related to the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Growing up in a diplomatic household, Robert Trivers attended schools in Berlin, Copenhagen and Washington D.C, before attending Phillips Academy in Massachusetts and going on to study American History at Harvard.

Trivers was open about his diagnosis of bipolar disorder, which was first misdiagnosed as schizophrenia when he had a manic episode at Harvard, requiring hospitalisation for several months and treatment with first generation antipsychotics. During his recovery, he developed an interest in psychology and social biology, although initially chose not to pursue this, applying to law school at Harvard and Yale; he was rejected from both, in part due to his mental health.

Trivers spent around 13 years living on and off in Jamaica, and was married twice to Jamaican women. He had 4 children with his first wife, Lorna Stable, and one with his second wife, Debra Dixon. As of 2026, he had 10 grandchildren and one great grandson.

He met Huey P. Newton, Chairman of the Black Panther Party, in 1978 when Newton applied while in prison to do a reading course with Trivers as part of a graduate degree in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz. Trivers and Newton became close friends: Newton was godfather to one of Trivers's daughters. Trivers joined the Black Panther Party in 1979. He and Newton published an analysis of the role of self-deception by the flight crew in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90. Trivers was "ex-communicated" from the Panthers by Newton in 1982 for "his own good".

Trivers died in Mount Vernon, New York, on March 12, 2026, at the age of 83.

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