On 7^thJanuary 2026, India lost one of its foremost ecologists, Prof Madhav Gadgil, fondly remembered as MG by his students and colleagues. He was born to Pramila and Dhananjay Gadgil—the latter a leading economist of his time, a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission of India—in Pune, the youngest of four siblings, sharing his father’s passion for reading and birdwatching. It was through his father that he became dramatically aware of the conflicts between environment and economic development at a young age—a theme he pursued relentlessly all through his life in his scientific work and policy engagements. MG cited several instances of influence of his father on his understanding of the human-nature relationship in his autobiography, A Walk Up the Hill: Living with People and Nature (2023), for example, the massive destruction of the Western Ghats forests and the loss of livelihoods of people whose lands were submerged due to the Koyna hydroelectric project in Maharashtra, India Many such incidences perhaps developed a deep impression on quiet and introvert mind of MG at a very young age.