Toomas Frey (13 December 1937 – 23 September 2020) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

geobotanist Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...

and forest scientist. Frey was born in

Põltsamaa Põltsamaa is a town in Põltsamaa Parish, Jõgeva County, in central Estonia. The town stands on the Põltsamaa River, and it features a Põltsamaa Castle, 13th-century castle. History During the German occupation in World War II, a subcamp of ...

. He was also a political leader, with the Estonian Green Movement. When he was named Minister of the Environment in 1990, it was the first time a member of a green political organisation reached a national position in any European government.Wolfgang Rudig (April 2002). "Between Ecotopia and disillusionment: Green parties in European government", ''Environment'' 44 (3): 20–33.

References

1937 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Estonian botanists Estonian ecologists People from Põltsamaa Forestry academics Environment ministers of Estonia Estonian Greens politicians Estonian University of Life Sciences alumni Academic staff of the Estonian University of Life Sciences Academic staff of the University of Tartu Estonian foresters 21st-century Estonian botanists {{forestry-researcher-stub