From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
Hugh Holbrook Tebault II, 89, died on May 10, 2007 in
Alameda, California. Tebault was introduced to humane work by his
mother, a close associate of Edith Latham, who founded the Latham
Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education in 1918. Tebault
headed the Latham Foundation from 1953 to 1998, and also served on
the American Humane Association board of directors for many years,
beginning in 1968. The Latham Foundation is now headed by his eldest
son, Hugh H. Tebault III. Early Latham projects included sponsoring
Kind Deeds Clubs, publishing a school newsletter called The Kindness
Messenger, and hosting essay contests and poster competitions.
Tebault II began exploring the use of electronic media to promote
humane education by hosting a radio program, then in the 1950s
produced the Brother Buzz television program on KPIX Channel 5, San
Francisco, which became The Wonderful World of Brother Buzz,
syndicated nationally in the 1960s. In the 1970s Tebault II produced
another nationally syndicated TV show called Withit, which in 1975
produced an influential episode about animal-assisted therapy. After
helping to organize two national conferences on animal-assisted
therapy, Tebault II in 1981 formed the Delta Committee as a project
of the Latham Foundation. A year later the committee evolved into
the Delta Society, an independent organization that promotes
animal-assisted therapy, now based in Renton, Washington.
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