Richard H. Tedford

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Richard H. Tedford

Richard Hall Tedford (April 25, 1929 – July 15, 2011) was an American paleontologist and a longtime curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He became Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1969 and later was named Curator Emeritus. Born in Encino, California, he earned a B.A. in Chemistry from UCLA and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1959.

Tedford was one of the leading experts on the evolution of carnivores, especially the canids (dogs and their relatives). He worked closely with Xiaoming Wang to study the fossil history of Canidae, helping to establish how canids evolved over the last about 40 million years. He lived in Demarest, New Jersey at the time of his death, after previously living in Cresskill.

He died after a fall at home, following a battle with colon cancer. His work was honored in the naming of an extinct Australian bat species, Rhinonicteris tedfordi, for his contributions to paleontology.

Selected publications
- Phylogenetic systematics of the North American fossil Caninae (2009)
- Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History (with Xiaoming Wang)
- Phylogenetic studies on Borophaginae (Carnivora, Canidae) (with Xiaoming Wang and Beryl E. Taylor, 1999)
- The terrestrial Eocene-Oligocene transition in North America, Canidae chapter (1996)