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b. 1938
Drove influential talk show host to forswear hamburgers on national television.
Mr. Lyman was a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher in Montana. After turning a small organic family into a large industrial feedlot, Mr. Lyman noticed the soil become sterile and chemical-ridden on his land. While recovering from surgery to remove a tumor from his spine, Mr. Lyman became determined to change the direction of his life. After working as a lobbyist for family farmers, he became a vegetarian and then a vegan, seeing his health improve dramatically. As a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, his inside knowledge of the cattle industry and its hazards drove Ms. Winfrey to declare that what Mr. Lyman said had "just stopped me cold from eating another burger."
Sued along with Ms. Winfrey under "veggie libel laws" by the Texas Cattlemen's Beef Association. Also, Mr. Lyman has traveled approximately 100,000 miles a year since 1991 to deliver the vegan message, and has served positions with Beyond Beef, the International Vegetarian Union, the Humane Society of the United States, EarthSave International, as well as his own organization, Voice for a Viable Future.
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