Background

Howard Lyman was born on September 17, 1938, in Great Falls, Montana. He was raised on a farm and ranch producing dairy and meat commodities.

Education

Howard Lyman attended Montana State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in agriculture in 1961.

Career

After education, Howard Lyman served in the United States Army in 1961-1963, where he engaged in combat development and experimentation command before returning to work on the farm. Lyman was the owner of the Lyman Ranch and Lyman Cattle Company, where he handled animal and grain production. A spinal cord tumor that paralyzed him from the waist down was responsible for changing his attitude toward meat and the meat industry. He regretted turning his family's organic farm and ranch into a large, corporate farm that used fertilizers, pesticides, and growth hormones to boost production. So, he sold off several of his farms in 1983 and became a lobbyist at the Montana Farmers Union in 1983-1986 and National Farmers Union in 1986-1993. Lyman's 1996 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show prompted a group of Texas cattlemen to bring a ten-million-dollar lawsuit against Lyman and show host Winfrey. However, a jury found both innocent of disparaging the beef industry. Additionally, Howard Lyman was a director of the Eating with a Conscience Campaign in 1994-1996, a president of the International Vegetarian Union in 1996-1998, and Earth Save in 1999-2001. In 1993 he founded and also became a president of the Voice of a Sustainable Future.

Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat is the result of Howard Lyman's transformation from a Montana cattle rancher to a vegan lobbyist for food safety. He writes: "Meat kills. It is the number one cause of death in America." Lyman describes the high levels of toxic chemicals injected into animals and the pesticides sprayed on the food these animals eat. He includes the scientific studies he accessed before concluding that eating meat and dairy products increases the chances of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Lyman also mentions the environmental effect of ranchings, such as lost forest and vegetation, polluted waters, and soil erosion.

Achievements

• Howard Lyman is well known as a writer and consumer advocate. He is probably best known as the controversial guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, whose comments about mad cow disease caused an angry cattle rancher to sue him and Oprah, a suit that Oprah and Howard won. As a writer, he is currently the author of Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat. Besides, Howard Lyman is a holder of several honors and awards, including the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in Sherborn in 1997, the honorary doctorate of Law from the Los Angeles City University also in 1997, and was included in the Vegetarian Hall of Fame at the North American Vegetarian Society's annual Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown in 2003.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Mad Cowboy

    (Told by the man who kicked off the infamous lawsuit betwe...)

    1998

Views

Howard Lyman's message is always the same - if there is to be a bright future for our children and grandchildren, it will come from consumer support of producers who work in concert with nature - organically, sustainably, and humanely.

Quotations: "When animals reach the slaughter facility, the only concern is to kill as many in as short a period as possible. The animals are terrified at the slaughter plant, and the cruelty inflicted on the animal in their last moments on earth is indescribable. I believe if the viewing of slaughter was required to eat meat, most folks become vegetarians."

Interests

• Politicians

  Robert Francis Kennedy

Connections

Wife:

Willow Jeanne Lyman

colleague:

Glen Merzer

Glen Merzer is a writer and producer known for City, Blossom, and Enemies of Laughter.