Maggy Hurchalla

Maggy Hurchalla
Born
Margaret Sloan Reno

(1940-12-11)December 11, 1940
Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.
DiedFebruary 19, 2022(2022-02-19) (aged 81)
Stuart, Florida, U.S.
SpouseJim Hurchalla
Children4
RelativesJanet Reno (sister)

Margaret Sloan Hurchalla (née Reno; December 11, 1940 – February 19, 2022) was an American environmental activist from Florida.[1][2] As a Martin County, Florida county commissioner, she pioneered responsible growth and championed environmental causes. Later in her career she was involved in a legal battle over her interference with a mining company, Lake Point Restoration. She was ordered to pay Lake Point a settlement of US$4,391,708 in 2018. That ruling was upheld by the appeal court in June 2019.

Early life and education

Maggy Reno's family moved to Miami, Florida, in 1920.[3] She was born in Coral Gables, Florida,[4] on December 11, 1940. Her mother Jane Wood Reno[5][4] and her father Henry Olaf Reno were both journalists who wrote for the Miami Herald.[4] Hurchalla was the third of four children.[4] Her elder sister was Janet Reno, who served as State Attorney for Dade County and then Attorney General of the United States during the Bill Clinton administration.[1][4] Hurchalla graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School[4] and then attended Swarthmore College, from which she graduated in 1962.[6]

Career

Hurchalla became involved in environmental activism after 650 acres (2.6 km2) of Hutchinson Island was sold to a developer in 1972 instead of being conserved.[1] In 1974, Hurchalla became a county commissioner of Martin County, Florida, serving in this role until 1994,[3][4] when she was defeated by Elmira Gainey.[4] She was the county's first female county commissioner.[1]

Known for her strong environmentalist views, she served on the state board of the Nature Conservancy[4] and on the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida.[7]

Controversies

When Hurchalla learned that the company Lake Point Restoration, owned by George Lindemann Jr., was planning on developing a rock mining site in Martin County,[1] she wrote twenty-three emails to county commissioners expressing her objections to the plans based on environmental concerns. Lake Point made deals with South Florida Water Management District in 2008 and Martin County in 2009 for water storage, but both deals were canceled in 2012. Lake Point said that Hurchalla was the reason the contracts were canceled and sued her in 2013 for tortious interference.[7] In February 2018, the trial took place and was decided in favor of Lake Point. Hurchalla was ordered to pay Lake Point US$4,391,708.[7][8] In July 2018, her car and two of her kayaks were seized by court order,[7] though Lake Point later returned them.[1] Hurchalla appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal in June 2019;[1][9] in 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to hear an appeal.[2]

Awards and honors

In 2002, she was named the Everglades Coalition's Conservationist of the Year.[7] In 2003 she won a National Wetlands Award from the Environmental Law Institute for volunteer leadership.[3] In 2019 she gave the keynote address at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Friends of the Everglades.[10]

Personal life and death

Hurchalla was married to Jim Hurchalla, formerly an engineer for Pratt & Whitney.[4] They had four children.[4][1] Hurchalla was in remission from breast cancer as of 2019.[1]

She appeared with her sister Janet Reno in "Dark Knight Court", a 2013 episode of The Simpsons, as Reno. Reno's Parkinson's disease made it difficult for her to speak, so Hurchalla voiced the character's longer lines.[11]

Hurchalla lived in Stuart, Florida.[1][4] She died from cardiac arrest on February 19, 2022, while she was recovering from a hip surgery. She was 81.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mazzei, Patricia (September 8, 2019). "The Florida Activist Is 78. The Legal Judgment Against Her Is $4 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Mazzei, Patricia (March 5, 2022). "Maggy Hurchalla, Formidable Florida Environmentalist, Dies at 81". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "ELI National Wetlands Awards: Maggie Hurchalla". Environmental Law Institute. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Michael Browning, Janet Reno: Her sister remembers their childhood in South Florida, Palm Beach Post (November 7, 2016).
  5. ^ Tuckwood, Jan; Kleinberg, Eliot (2000). Our century: featuring the Palm Beach Post 100 : the people who changed the way we live. West Palm Beach, FL; New York: Palm Beach Post ; Mega-Books/Progressive Pub. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-9657200-3-8.
  6. ^ Johnson, K. Norman; Swanson, Frederick; Herring, Margaret; Greene, Sarah, eds. (1999). Bioregional Assessments: Science at the Crossroads of Management and Policy. Island Press. p. 380. ISBN 9781610913867.
  7. ^ a b c d e Renner, Rebecca (October 25, 2018). "Janet Reno's Sister Owes a Florida Developer $4 Million. She Has Zero Intention of Paying". Medium. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Jose Lambiet, Environmentalist ordered to pay $4.4 million to developer, Miami Herald (February 14, 2018).
  9. ^ Melissa E. Holsman, Maggy Hurchalla loses Lake Point appeal related to $4.4 million judgment against her, Treasure Coast Newspapers (June 20, 2019).
  10. ^ "Maggy Hurchalla's Keynote Address at Friends of the Everglades' 50th Anniversary celebration!". Friends of the Everglades. April 23, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  11. ^ The Palm Beach Post (March 18, 2013). "Ex-Martin County commissioner joins sister Janet Reno on episode of 'The Simpsons'". Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  12. ^ Chesnes, Max (February 19, 2022). "Maggy Hurchalla, environmental advocate, former Martin County Commissioner, dies at 81". Treasure Coast Newspapers. Retrieved February 20, 2022.