Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (February 2, 1878 – July 17, 1965) was an American anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism, and in transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the Western world, most known for publishing an early English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1927. Today, Evans-Wentz is best known for four texts translated from the Tibetan: The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1927), Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa (1928), Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (1935), and The Tibetan Book of the Great Walter was born as Walter Yeeling Wentz in Trenton, New Jersey in 1878. His father Christopher Wentz (1836 - February 4, 1921) - born in Weissengen, Baden, Germany - had emigrated to America with his parents in 1846.[1] At the turn of the century (1900) Christopher was a real estate developer in Pablo Beach, Florida. Walter's mother (and Christopher's 1st wife) - Mary Evans Cook (died 1898) - was of Irish heritage. Christopher and Mary were married on August 11, 1862 in Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Christopher's 2nd wife (they were married on June 4, 1900 in Duval County, Florida) was Olivia F. Bradford (1863-1949). Walter had two brothers and two sisters.[2] Though initially a Baptist, Walter's father had turned to spiritualism and Theosophy.[3] As a teenager, Walter read Madame Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine in his father's library, and became interested in the teachings of Theosophy and the occult.[4] Subsequently, at the turn of century, Walter moved to San Diego, California to join his father's profession, but also because it was close to Lomaland, the American headquarters for the Theosophical Society,[2] which he joined in 1901 Less