Prominent herpetologist Valerian Garanin passes away aged 97

Valerian Ivanovich Garanin, one of Russia’s leading herpetologists and zoologists, has passed away at the age of 97.

Valerian Garanin’s research and teaching career were always inextricably linked to Kazan University. He graduated from the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science in 1952. He worked at the Kazan Institute of Biology of the Kazan Branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences: as laboratory assistant in the zoological laboratory (1952–1953), junior research associate (1959–1967), and senior research associate (1967–1970). He was the Second Secretary of the Molotov Regional Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League of Kazan (1953–1954), and the Head of Department of the Vysokaya Gora Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Tatar ASSR (1954–1956). He completed PhD studies (1956–1959) and earned a PhD in biology (1965).

Since 1970, he taught at the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science at Kazan University: Associate Professor (1970–1980), Head of the Department of Nature Conservation (1980–1986), Associate Professor of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, and Deputy Dean (1986–2009).

Dr Garanin’s research interests were extremely broad, including animal ecology, herpetology, nature conservation, and the history of science. He was the author and co-author of over 350 published works, including 30 monographs and books: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Volga-Kama Region (1983), Volga-Kama Nature Reserve (1989), The Animal World of the Eastern Trans-Kama Region (2000), The Life and Work of E.A. Eversman (2002), etc.

Valerian Garanin is one of the compilers and editors of the Red Data Book of the Republic of Tatarstan and the organizer of scientific research in the Volga-Kama Nature Reserve and in the flood zone created by the Kuibyshev Reservoir.

He was a Corresponding Member of the International Pedagogical Academy, an Honorary Member of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, and the Nikolsky Russian Herpetological Society.

He was awarded the medals For Valiant Labor (1970), For Labor Valor (1979), Veteran of Labor (1984), In Memory of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan (2005), the honorary medal For Merit to the Volga-Kama State Nature Biosphere Reserve (2010), the title of the Honored Worker of Education of the Russian Federation (2018), the title of the Honored Ecologist of the Republic of Tatarstan (2018), and the honorary diploma of the Rector of Kazan Federal University (2023).

For several years before his retirement, Dr Garanin held the honor of being the most senior employee of Kazan Federal University.

Kazan University expresses its sincere condolences to his family and friends.