Environmentalist Nathaniel Reed, who served six Florida governors and two U.S. Presidents has died, according to published reports.
The Tampa Bay Times says Reed, a Hobe Sound resident, died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday, according to his family.
“He was an avid fisherman and golfer with an unparalleled passion for restoring the Everglades,” said Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg in a statement.
Reed would have turned 85 on July 22, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Nathaniel Reed serves as vice chairman of both the Everglades Foundation and the Florida Conservation Coalition. His record of public service began in 1967 when he became Florida’s first environmental advisor to Gov. Claude Kirk. In 1969, Reed was appointed chairman of the Department of Air and Water Pollution Control and was central to the reversal of two significant cases of environmental deterioration: the signing of the Florida Jetport Pact and the abandonment of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal project. He was credited with a role in the purchase of 22 new state parks and helped to establish air quality regions in the state. In 1971, Reed became Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks under Richard Nixon and remained in that position through the Gerald Ford Administration.
Reed returned to Florida in 1977 and served seven governors on a range of committees and commissions. He is best known as chairman of the Commission on Florida’s Environmental Future, which recommended the most ambitious land acquisition program in U.S. history. Reed was a board member and vice chairman of the National Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy; board member of the National Parks & Conservation Association; and board member emeritus of the Natural Resources Defense Council and 1000 Friends of Florida. He served on the board of the National Geographic Society for 20 years.
SOURCE: BOB GRAHAM CENTER
BREAKING: Nat Reed, environmental icon, dies http://t.co/3HyoQAAMij
— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) July 11, 2018
“Nat’s fingerprints are on many of the most significant national conservation accomplishments of the last 60 years...The entire Audubon family extends our deepest condolences.” -@JulieWraithmell on the passing on conservation hero Nathaniel P. Reed. More: http://t.co/tl7tdmXGs1pic.twitter.com/L1mrVIf1Lc
— Audubon Florida (@AudubonFL) July 11, 2018