Howard Lyman

Howard Fenn Lyman was born on 17 September 1938 outside Great Falls, Montana, on land his family had farmed for four generations. His family later recalled a rough and rugged childhood filled with the constant work of a struggling family farm. He was a keen football player and, by his own account, an indifferent student. He earned a B.S. in general agriculture from Montana State University in Bozeman in 1961, then served two years in the U.S. Army, rising to first lieutenant and tank commander in the 4th Battalion, 73rd Armor Regiment. He was called home to take over the farm when his older brother fell ill with cancer.

From 1963 to 1983 Lyman ran the Lyman Ranch and the Lyman Cattle Company, producing range and feedlot beef, dairy, pigs, chickens, hay, grain and silage with the chemical methods of the day. In 1979 a spinal tumor left him unable to walk. Facing surgery and possible paralysis, he vowed to abandon chemical farming if he recovered, and afterwards converted the operation to organic methods. He lost a congressional bid in 1982, sold the farm in 1983 and became a lobbyist for the Montana Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union in Washington, D.C., where he helped secure passage of national organic standards legislation in 1990.

In the early 1990s he became vegetarian and then vegan, and began investigating bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. He directed the Beyond Beef campaign with the economist Jeremy Rifkin, founded Voice for a Viable Future in 1993, and led the Humane Society of the United States' "Eating with Conscience" campaign.

On 16 April 1996 he told The Oprah Winfrey Show about the practice of feeding rendered cattle to cattle, prompting Winfrey to say she had been stopped cold from eating another burger. Texas cattle interests sued both of them; they were found not liable in 1998 and won again on appeal in 2000. He was president of the International Vegetarian Union from 1996 to 1999 and of EarthSave from 1999 to 2001, and co-wrote Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat (1998) and No More Bull! (2005) with Glen Merzer. He released four lecture DVDs and appeared in the documentaries McLibel, Meat The Truth, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, Vegucated and Cowspiracy.

In March 1968 Lyman married Willow Jeane Berg Wilkins, a fellow Great Falls native and a widow with three young children. They were married for 58 years. In 2005 the couple retired to Ellensburg, Washington, where he was active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and co-founded the Ellensburg Vegetarian Society. In 2021 they moved to Damariscotta, Maine, to be closer to family. In his last years he enjoyed reading, watching football and time with his daughter and grandson. He was predeceased by his daughter Jennifer, who died in 2023.

Howard Lyman died at his home in Damariscotta, Maine, on 27 October 2026, aged 88, surrounded by family. His death was first shared by VegNews founder Joseph Connelly and announced in a family obituary. The cause of death was not made public. He was survived by his wife Willow Jeane, two daughters, a foster son and seven grandchildren. At his wish there was no funeral or memorial service; he was cremated, with his resting place at the IOOF Cemetery in Ellensburg, Washington. Tributes came from PETA, Farm Sanctuary founder Gene Baur and the International Vegetarian Union.

Lyman was valued in the vegan movement because he spoke as someone who had built industrial livestock farming rather than as an outsider. The Oprah case became a landmark in the debate over so-called food disparagement laws. He received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1997 and was inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Animal Rights Hall of Fame. Many activists credited his talks with persuading them to go vegan.