Orrin Pilkey, an outspoken and at times polarizing coastal geologist and pioneer of the study of development along natural shorelines, died Friday in Durham, North Carolina, at age 90.
Over a more than 50-year career at Duke University, Pilkey mentored hundreds of geology students, authored or co-authored 49 books and published more than 250 academic papers on coastal development, including a 22-volume series about the risks of development along naturally eroding beaches and barrier islands.
His death was announced by Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
As founder and longtime director of the Nicholas School’s program for the study of developed shorelines, Pilkey advocated for environmentally sound beach management and stoked public interest — and sometimes anger — for his unvarnished opinions about the perils of building on seashores.
