Daniel Peppe leads teams of researchers engaging in paleobotany to determine what the grasslands of Africa looked like millions of years ago.
Dr. Daniel Peppe, a North Canaan Elementary School and Hotchkiss alum, is a professor of Geosciences at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
When he is not teaching both intro and graduate level courses, he can be found conducting research across the globe. In short, his work focuses on the evolutionary processes of plants and animals in response to climate change. Having conducted fieldwork in the U.S. Midwest, Australia and Abu Dhabi, Peppe has settled for Eastern Africa.
While in graduate school at Yale University, Peppe lived in the forests of Uganda with his wife, who at the time was researching chimpanzee behavior. It was there that he was put in contact with a geologist in Kenya who was looking for an extra set of hands at a fossil site.
Over the past 20 years, he has continued his work in East Africa, collaborating with both local and international geologists. Each trip lasts about a month and involves moving from site to site.
“The work I do is like building a puzzle, I have all these pieces that need to be put together,” Peppe said.
To build the puzzle of what the landscape looked like in Africa 15-20 million years ago, his team uses paleobotany and ecological methods. The “pieces of the puzzle” range from climate patterns to plant and animal communities. Once put together they provide the team with a reconstructed version of the ancient ecosystem. From there, Peppe can estimate how the ecosystem impacted the natural life that once inhabited it.
A recent focus of Peppe’s work has been on C4 plants, which refer to warm-season grasses.
With his team, he set out to answer the question “when did C4 plants evolve in Kenya and why?”
Unbeknownst to him, the data he would later find would completely shift the timeline of African geology. Peppe’s team found that these plants, which are imperative to interpreting the evolution of mammals, including humans, could be dated back 10 million years earlier than previously documented.
This finding then led to their second breakthrough. It was previously claimed that traits and characteristics of apes had developed through their reliance on dense forest as habitat.
However, coupled with the earlier dating of warm-season grasses, Peppe’s team was able to connect apes’ evolution to both types of vegetation.
Peppe’s passion for nature started long before his academic career. Growing up in the Northwest Corner “really had an impact,” he reflected. As a kid he worked his way from Cub Scout to Eagle Scout. His Eagle Scout project was making trail signs for the North Canaan Greenway.
Despite far flung adventures, Peppe still reveres the Northwest Corner. “I think a lot of people overthink where we live,” Peppe said. “It is full of interesting geology.”
When at Yale, his class went on a field trip to the Falls Village Falls, a place that he associated with childhood memories, not coursework, like fishing in the Blackberry River and hiking Mt. Riga.
“I love what I do,” Peppe said. “I get to be outdoors, working with people, discovering new things.”
FALLS VILLAGE — Robin Lee Roy, 62, of Zephyrhills, Florida, passed away Jan. 14, 2026.
She was a longtime CNA, serving others with compassion for more than 20 years before retiring from Heartland in Florida.
Robin loved the beach, sunshine, and gardening, and was known for her strength, humor, and unwavering support of those she loved.
She is survived by her daughter, Sierra R. Zinke, and brothers, Darren Roy and Todd Roy.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Sharon Thomkins Roy and Robert Roy, and her brother Nevin Roy.
No services will be held at this time.
SALISBURY — Marjorie A. Vreeland, 98, passed away peacefully at Noble Horizons, on Jan. 10, 2026.She was surrounded by her two loving children, Richard and Nancy.She was born in Bronxville, New York,on Aug. 9, 1927, to Alice (Meyer) and Joseph Casey, both of whom were deceased by the time she was 14. She attended public schools in the area and graduated from Eastchester High School in Tuckahoe and, in 1946 she graduated from The Wood School of Business in New York City.
At 19 years old, she married Everett W. Vreeland of White Plains, New York and for a few years they lived in Ithaca, New York, where Everett was studying to become a veterinarian at Cornell. After a short stint in Coos Bay, Oregon (Mike couldn’t stand the cloudy, rainy weather!) they moved back east to Middletown, Connecticut for three years where Dr. Vreeland worked for Dr. Pieper’s veterinary practice.In Aug. of 1955, Dr. and Mrs. Vreeland moved to North Kent, Connecticut with their children and started Dr. Vreeland’s Veterinary practice. In Sept. of 1968 Marjorie, or “Mike” as she wished to be called, took a “part-time job” at the South Kent School.She retired from South Kent 23 years later on Sept. 1, 1991.Aside from office help and bookkeeping she was secretary to the Headmaster and also taught Public Speaking and Typing.In other times she worked as an assistant to the Town Clerk in Kent, an office worker and receptionist at Ewald Instruments Corp. and as a volunteer at the Kent Library.
“Mike” loved the sun, sand and water and spent many summers at Westport Point, Massachusetts with the kids and their best friends, the Bauers.She was the consummate hostess, and a wonderful cook.She also appeared in several plays with The Sherman Players and also a show or two on special occasions at The Kent Community House.She took enjoyment from working outdoors doing chores around her home in North Kent.She lived in that house until she sold it and bought a condominium on North Main Street in Kent in May of 2003.She lived in the condo until 2018 after which her light began to fade and her last 8 years were spent comfortably at Noble Horizons.
“Mike” leaves behind her children, Richard (Susan) of Lakeville, her daughter Nancy Rutledge (Jim) of Salisbury; two grandchildren, Chandra Gerrard (Sean) of Litchfield, Matthew (Larissa) of Lakeville; three great grandchildren, Addison, Emilia and Everett, all of Lakeville.
She was predeceased by her beloved granddaughter Caroline in 2020.
All services are private.The Ryan Funeral Home, 255 Main St., Lakeville, is in charge of arrangements.
To offer an online condolence, please visit ryanfhct.com
SALISBURY -— Rafael A. Porro, 88, of 4 Undermountain Road, passed away Jan. 6, 2026, at Sharon Hospital. Rafael was born on April 19, 1937 in Camaguey, Cuba the son of Jose Rafael Porro and Clemencia Molina de Porro. He graduated from the Englewood School for Boys in Englewood, New Jersey and attended Columbia University School of General Studies. Rafael retired as a law library clerk from the law firm of Curtis, Mallet Prevost in 2002 and came to live in Salisbury to be nearer to his sister, Chany Wells.
Rafael is survived by his sister, Chany Wells, his nephew Conrad Wells (Gillian), and by numerous cousins in North Carolina, Florida, Wyoming, Arizona, Cuba and Canada. He was the eldest of the cousins and acknowledged family historian. He will be greatly missed.
A memorial service will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in June. Memorial contributions may be made to Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury and Scoville Memorial Library.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
TORRINGTON — Roger D. Ovitt, 91, of 35 Berry St. Torrington, died peacefully at his home surrounded by his loving family.He was the husband of Barbara (Webb) Ovitt of Torrington.Roger was born June 28, 1934 in Amenia, New York, son of the late Ronald and Edna Lucy (King) Ovitt.
Roger had worked for 36 years as a crusher operator for the former Pfizer Corporation in Canaan. After retiring from Pfizer in 1992, Roger joined his brother, Brian, and began a new career as a house painter. Roger enjoyed this venture with his brother.He was an avid fisherman.Roger also loved to garden.He took great pride in the flowers and vegetables that he raised.
In addition to his wife, Roger is survived by his children;Donald Ovitt and his wife Alissa of Clarksville, Tennessee, Jennifer Godburn and her husband Stephen of Sarasota, Florida, Valerie Bachman and her husband Paul of Torrington, Connecticut, Stephanie Follett of Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, and Nelson Roddy and his wife Mary of Lakeville, Connecticut.Roger is also survived by his sister, Eleanor Hineman of Connecticut, and his three brothers; Robert Ovitt of Southfield, Massachusetts, Brian Ovitt and his wife Alice of Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Gary Ovitt and his wife Cheryl of Sheffield, Massachusetts; his brother-in-law Charlton Webb of Winsted, Connecticut;12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
Roger was predeceased by his daughter, Penny Fallon, sister Joy Eichstedt, brothers Ronald, Carlton, Jerry, Wayne, and Raymond Ovitt, his grandson Shawn Bachman, his great-grandsonEli Green, and his step-father Edwin Mansir.
A Celebration of Roger’s Life will be held on Saturday Jan. 24, 2026, at 11 a.m. in the Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home 118 Main St. North Canaan, CT 06018.
Calling hours will be held at the funeral home on Saturday from 10 a.m. until the service begins at 11 a.m.
Memorial donations in Roger’s memory may be made to Connecticut Chapter of theAlzheimer’s Association 10 Executive Drive Suite 202 Farmington, CT 06032.
