Pedro A.
Sanchez, an American soil scientist and former director at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, died on January 12, 2026. He was 85.
Sanchez served as director of the Agriculture & Food Security Center, senior research scholar, and director of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute, and was director general of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi from 1991 to 2001. He also served as co-chair of the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force and was professor emeritus of soil science and forestry at North Carolina State University. Born in Havana, Cuba, he received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in soil science from Cornell University.
Pedro Antonio Sanchez San Martín (October 7, 1940 – January 12, 2026) was the director of the Agriculture & Food Security Center, senior research scholar, and director of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Sanchez was director general of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1991-2001, and served as co-chair of the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force. He was also professor emeritus of soil science and forestry at North Carolina State University and was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.