The EDF founders, non-lawyers except for Victor Yannacone, were scientists, environmentalists, and birders, but they were instrumental in the initiation of environmental law and legal action against the use of DDT.
[7][8][9][10] The research of Wurster and his collaborators provided scientific evidence for the environmental dangers caused by chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides.
[19] Wurster was a world class birder and leader for ornithology and ecology tours in the Arctic, Antarctic, Africa, and South America.
He made an appearance in the NOVA television documentary Return of the Osprey, originally broadcast in the United States on March 18, 1986.
[3] A lifelong asthmatic who never smoked, Wurster died at his daughter's home in Arlington, Virginia, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
[22][4] Wurster's first wife was Dorothy Hadley Burster-Hill (1932–2007), a cytogeneticist,[23] an authority on the chromosomes of carnivores,[24] and a faculty member in the Dartmouth Medical School's department of pathology.
[27] When Wurster died at age 92 in 2023, he was survived by his three children, four grandchildren, and his longtime companion Marie Gladwish,[4] an artist and world traveler.