Luc Hoffman, Swiss ornithologist and naturalist, dead at 93

A wildlife groups says Dr. Luc Hoffmann, a Swiss ornithologist and naturalist with a passion for wetlands who helped create the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and many other conservation groups, has died at 93.

Hoffmann died Thursday at his home in the Camargue wetlands of southeastern France, which is known for flamingos and other birds, said the Tour de Valat, a research center he founded there over a half-century ago. No cause of death was given.

A grandson of the founder of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, now Roche, Lukas "Luc" Hoffmann developed an early fascination with nature. He earned a doctorate in zoology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he was born on Jan. 23, 1923.

Hoffmann wrote over 60 books and publications, mostly on birds and their habitats.