Peter Ourusoff

1940 - 2013
Peter Ourusoff, teacher, naturalist and nature safari guide for over forty-five years, died Feb. 3 at his home in Graton, California, after a short illness. He was 73 years old.
Born in Washington, D.C., he was the son of Leonid Ourusoff, a Russian prince who immigrated to the United States after the 1917 Russian Revolution and Katherine Carlisle of Washington, D.C. He was educated at St. Albans School, Cornell, Boston University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. His boyhood interest in bird-watching deepened into a passion for learning and teaching about the natural world. He worked at Drumlin Farm for the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1959.
Beasts of all kinds trusted him. A pet raccoon scurried busily about an early apartment. A huge snowy owl, wounded by birdshot, sat peacefully on his arm. During his early years as a biology teacher in Lexington, Mass., he led a summer bird-watching trek to the American west. This informal expedition turned out to be a model for the rest of his working life. As a guide for the Bay Area firm Mountain Travel for over 20 years (1979-2001), he went on to lead sightseeing safaris to Kenya's great rift valley, north Tanzania's Serengeti Plain, the mountains of Rwanda, and beyond Africa, to Hawaii, Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Central Asia and Arctic Russia. There were adventures. Once, halfway through a boat tour of Lake Baikal, the boat's engine died. Silence. Worried looks. But Peter life-rafted his guests ashore, discovered a small Siberian village, introduced himself in Russian to the townspeople, and sang Russian folk songs for the congregation. Eventually, a rescue boat appeared.
Ourusoff (he spelled it "Urusov" in later years), who later affirmed his gay orientation, left the Northeast U.S. and adventured out to the Bay area in 1969, spending the next two years helping to establish an alternative high school in Richmond. He then worked as a naturalist for the East Bay Regional Park District.
He found a modest two-acre property in Graton. He decreed "Peter's place": two rental units and a small house, sheep and goats, a 3/4 acre vineyard, a lap pool, and extensive horticulture. It was a refuge. Friends came. Family came. In the few days before his death, they came in numbers, and organized schedules for his care, food, 24-hour nursing, and exercise for Rafiki, Peter's beloved black dog. "Rafiki" means "friend" in Swahili.
Peter nursed injured animals and dying friends, rode in bikeathons for AIDS victims, supported charities (favorites included The Nature Conservancy and Doctors without Borders). Friends knew him as a welcoming host, loved his joyful, kind, adventurous spirit, and will continue to be inspired by his passionate concern for human rights and the environment.
He is survived by his sister Olga Skow, brothers Nick, Ivan and Sergei; seven nieces and nephews; and nine grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
Remembrance ceremonies are planned at the family summer home in New London, NH during August and during the summer in California.