Lester Walter Milbrath (29 October 1925 – 26 December 2007) was an American environmentalist and professor of Political science, who taught at SUNY Buffalo from 1965 to 1991.

During his academic career, he taught abroad on sabbaticals and Fulbright scholarships in Poland, Norway, Denmark, Taiwan and Australia.

In 1945, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving as an electrician on the USS General H. W. Butner (AP-113) and a Landing Craft Infantry ship (LCIL-820).

The award was presented, said an APSA spokesperson, in recognition of Milbrath’s "distinguished lifetime achievement in scholarship, teaching and advancement of the field of ecological and transformational politics.

[5] Building upon his early interest in the role money plays in politics, he sought to analyze and explain the influence of lobbyists on congressional actors in Washington, D.C.

[citation needed] Much to the surprise of political scientists at the time, his survey suggested that lobbyists exerted little influence and, instead, were a critical source of information for legislators.

In addition to his numerous journal articles and book chapters, he published Environmentalists: Vanguard for a New Society (SUNY Series in Environmental Public Policy) State University of New York Press 1985 ISBN 978-0873958882 in 1984.

This book compared and contrasted the attitudes, values, and perceptions of environmentalists with those of the "rearguard," a group of people who embrace the dominant social paradigm of economic growth at any cost.

The book, based on extensive survey data, received a great deal of acclaim by political scientists and scholars in environmental studies.