Zhai Renjie

Zhai Renjie was a Professor Emeritus at Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He died of the complication of blood vessel tumors in the early morning of June 22, 2009 in Beijing. He was 77.

Zhai graduated from Department of Geology, Nanjing University, in 1955 and joined the IVPP faculty upon his graduation. He was an important member of the Paleogene group and participated in many expeditions during his tenure. He was a careful researcher, and his publications have stood the test of time. He co-authored the grand tome with D. E. Russell entitled “The Paleogene of Asia: mammals and stratigraphy” (Russell, D. E. & Zhai, R., 1987, Mem. Mus. Nat. D’Hist. Nat. 52:1-488).

He authored such papers as "Rhinocerotids in China - systematics and material analysis". , "An aberrant amphicyonid mammal from the latest Eocene of the Bose Basin, Guangxi, China", and the book Phanerozoic Geology of Northwest China.