Train, Russell oral history interview

Russell Train was born on June 4, 1920 in Jamestown, Rhode Island. He attended St. Alban’s School in Washington, D.C. and was a member of the class of 1941 at Princeton University. After Princeton, Train received his J.D. law degree from Columbia University in 1948. He was a staff attorney at the House Committees in Washington, concentrating on taxation, from 1949 to 1956. The next year, Train became the head of the legal advisory staff at the U.S. Department of Treasury. In 1957, he became the youngest tax judge in the country, a position he held until 1965. Train has served on the Ways and Means Committee and was the president of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation as well as the Conservation Foundation. In 1970, Train received an honorary degree from Bates College. He was the first chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality and headed Richard Nixon’s task force on the environment. In 1973, Train became an administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, a position he held until 1977. The following year he became the CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, where he served until 1985. Since then, Train has been involved with many environmental protection and conservation programs