Nathaniel Reed - 2007 Distinguished Leader in Fish and Wildlife Conservation Award Recipient
The University of Florida Departments of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation are honored to present the first Distinguished Leader in Fish and Wildlife Conservation Award to Nathaniel P. Reed in recognition of his unique and meritorious lifetime accomplishments. Mr. Reed has over four decades of environmental leadership and activism and he has devoted his life to working in the field of policy and politics to protect ecological values of Florida and the USA since the early 1960s.
Nathaniel was born in New York City and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Jupiter Island, Florida. His childhood years were spent fishing in the Indian River and exploring the coastal pinewoods, streams, estuaries and sand lakes. During that time he developed a deep-rooted appreciation for the area’s natural ecosystems and an understanding of how they might be impacted by uncontrolled development.
Nathaniel received a BA from Trinity College in 1955 and served as an officer in the US Air Force in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, retiring with the rank of Captain. Upon returning to Florida he became Vice President and then President of Olympia Improvement Inc., a real estate holding company that owned Jupiter Island. He and his parents developed the island slowly and carefully, preserving hundreds of acres of natural areas in the process.
Nathaniel served seven governors, and is well known for his role as Chairman of the Commission on Florida’s Environmental Future. He also served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Nathaniel is a member of the Board of Hope Rural School, a school for the children of migrant workers. He is a former member of the Board and Vice Chairman of the National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy and he serves as an emeritus member of the boards of the Natural Resources Defense Council and 1000 Friends of Florida, which he helped form. He has served on the Board of the National Geographic Society since 1988 and currently is Vice Chairman of the Everglades Foundation.
