Conservationist Russell E. Train dies 21 (UPI) -- Russell E. Train, leader of the Environmental Protection Agency and first president of the World Wildlife Fund's U.S. chapter has died at the age of 92. Train died Monday in Bozeman, Mont., Carter Brown, president of the WWF-US, said. Train was widely regarded as one of America's most important conservationists, helping to craft enduring environmental laws and establishing agencies that shape U.S. environmental policy, a statement on the WWF website said. No cause of death was stated. A former tax court judge, it was a 1963 safari in east Africa that molded his admiration for nature. He began an African wildlife foundation, and in 1965 became head of the Conservation Foundation, a non-profit research and education organization. He led the EPA after it was launched in 1970 and was credited with shaping the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Environment Policy Act. From 1978 to 1985 he used his platform as head of the WWF-US to establish World Heritage sites and a convention to regulate international trade in endangered species. Thomas Lovejoy, professor of environmental science and policy, referred to Train as "the key person in the Nixon-Ford years who built the modern environmental laws and institutions in the American government."