Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Dr. Lyle Thurston died Tuesday in Victoria, B.C. at age 70.

Lyle was one of the original Greenpeace crewmembers on the first Greenpeace voyage in 1971 to oppose nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in the Alaskan Aleutians.

He was along with Robert and Roberta Hunter, Ben Metcalfe, Rod Marining and myself, a co-founder of the Greenpeace Foundation.

He sailed with Sea Shepherd as ship's medical officer on board our vessel the Cleveland Amory in 1993 to oppose foreign drag trawlers on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and he participated in the Sea Shepherd campaign as medical officer on the Ocean Warrior to protect Grey whales from the Makah tribe's attempts to revive whaling on the Pacific west coast.

A pharmacist and physician, he sat on the board of the Window Pane Society, a Vancouver organization that helped young people beat their drug habits.

Thurston died in Victoria's Royal Jubilee Hospital on Tuesday after battling emphysema and a chest infection.

I was sad to hear of Lyle's passing today, he has been a lifelong friend and I'll never forget the times that I had the privilege of sailing with him as both shipmate and his Captain.