About RGMC, Inc.

MONTHLY MEETINGS are the second Monday of the month. They begin at 3:00 PM at
Happahatchee Conference Center, Corkscrew Road, Fort Myers, FL
For more information, please contact us at rgmc(at)hotmail.com (change (at) to @ to email)

For additional information, or to add agenda items, please contact Nora Demers, secretary
at roynora(at)comcast.net(change (at) to @ to email)

Meetings regularly include updates from local organizations including the Agency on Bay Management, the Watershed Council, Conservancy, Sierra Club. We also keep track of upcoming zoning and planning issues by following activities of the Army Corp of Engineers, Florida and Federal Department of Environmental Protection and Water Management District issues that affect Responsible Growth in southwest Florida.

Members can request minutes or additional information by contacting the RGMC Board Secretary at Secretary(at)RGMCSWF.org (change (at) to @ to email)

The monthly meetings are led by the President, attended by the Board of Directors and open to the entire membership to discuss all issues regarding responsible growth.

Minutes of the RGMC meetings will no longer be posted on this site. Members can request minutes from Secretary(at)RGMCSWF.org (change (at) to @ to email)

Board of Directors

Officers

Ellie Boyd: President. Ellie was born Philadelphia 1935; she grew up in PA & WI. She earned a BA from Wellesley in 1956. Ellie worked for DuPont in toxicology before graduate school; she earned a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Rochester in 1968. Ellie’s career was in neuropharmacology research and teaching medical, graduate & nursing students. The Boyd’s moved to Florida 1982. They were founding RGMC members in 1988. Ellie was secretary for many years until 1996 when she moved to Fredericksburg, TX to do full-time astrophotography with Gene. They returned to Southwest Florida in 2000. The Boyd’s ‘would like to leave this world believing that life & biodiversity will continue’. Gene passed away in 2003 and Ellie continues the work.

Loren Wieland: Vice-President. Loren grew up in a small town outside of Kalamazoo Michigan along the polluted banks of the Kalamazoo River that served as a wild adventure paradise even though it stunk from paper mill pollution. Loren’s father was a veterinarian and his mother was a dog groomer. He spent his summers on a relative's farm in an even smaller town. After graduating from high school he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Michigan State University. Loren then did four years of involuntary servitude in the Air Force including going to Vietnam to settle the situation there, and extricating himself as soon as possible. A master's degree in humanistic psychology from West Georgia University was next. He worked in the field off and on with travel and various occupations in-between. Loren washed up on the shores of Southwest Florida in 1979, having escaped dangerous labor in a private mental institution in Pennsylvania. Before he knew it he had a grounds-keeping business going in-between watching sunsets on the beaches of Captiva. He then broke his neck in a diving accident. So here he is, twenty-six years later, surviving and attempting to take care of the planet. Loren has been a board member since 2004.

Dave Urich: Treasurer. Dave & Shelia Urich came to Fort Myers in 1974 when he was appointed Superintendent at the HRS' Sunland Developmental Center (now Gulf Coast Center) in Buckingham. He became the second Executive Director of Youth Haven of Naples in 1984, and recently retired as a Development Officer with the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranches where he covered the SW Florida area for seven years. Dave was a founding member of the RGMC; he was also active in Twin-Cities, which later became S.O.U.T.H. (Save Our Unique Town's Heritage). S.O.U.T.H. opposed the Mid-Point Bridge in the interest of preserving the McGregor Blvd. area and its Royal palms. A spin-off group was Save The Palms. The Urich's are members of the National & Florida Historic Trusts, and the Lee Trust for Historic Preservation. Earlier they lived in Vermont, Conn. & S.C. Dave has been an RGMC member since 1988.

Nora Demers: Secretary. Nora was born in Richmond Heights, MO in 1962. She grew up in Florissant, MO. She traveled the country and Europe tent-camping with her (large) family and on her own. She and her husband settled in a small cabin on 40 acres in Cuba MO while she earned a B.S. in Life Sciences from the University of Missouri-Rolla (1989). She then moved to Oregon to earned M.S and Ph.D. (1996) in Zoology from Oregon State University, (Corvallis) studying the acute effects of stress on immunity. Nora is an Associate Professor of Biology and Interdisciplinary studies at FGCU. She moved to Florida in 1997 to join the faculty at the nation’s newest University because of the mission statement that professes environmental sustainability as a foundational characteristic of the institution. Her growth management related research interests include water quality and Gopher tortoise habitat. She has always savored the outdoors and enjoys bicycling, and disc golf. She joined RGMC in 1998 and the board in 2001.

Board Members

Ellen Peterson: Ellen in a native of Georgia, where she graduated from the University of Georgia and Appalachia State with degrees in Chemistry, and a Master’s in Counseling. She has been a resident of Southwest Florida since 1963. Ellen has been an active member of the RGMC since its inception in 1988. Her long-time work also includes efforts to preserve and protect Estero Bay, Black Island, and Fisheating Creek, here in Southwest Florida.

Pete Quasius: Pete was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin just before WWII. He attended college in Wisconsin, graduate school at Duke and later the Armed Forces Staff College. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service and had assignments in South and Southeast Asia, South America and Washington, DC.  After 25 years in the diplomatic corps, he retired and sailed to Florida to live on Bonita Beach where his family had a home for many years. He then indulged his horticultural interests and raised orchids, butterflies and native plants commercially for several years. Pete earned a U.S. Coast Guard license and an endorsement from ORVIS and became a fishing guide. He still owns Time's Fly'n Fishing Charters, a fishing guide service in Ft. Myers and Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin where he and his wife have a summer home. Pete has been active in political, environmental and professional organizations concerned with water issues for many years including the Coastal Conservation Association, the Florida and Lee Country Professional Guides Associations, the Southwest Florida Watershed Council,  Riverwatch - the Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association and BUPAC - Businessmen United for Political Action Committee. He is the past president of  Audubon of Southwest Florida  and is on the staff of the Collier County Audubon Society as an environmental policy advocate. He and Maria have a home on the Caloosahatchee just east of Fort Myers. He has been on the board of the Responsible Growth Management Coalition since 2006.

Carl Veaux: Carl was born in Scranton, in 1938 and grew up in Caldwell, NJ. He has been involved in environmental education for many years, arranging many outings for grade school children such as planting trees with them in many states and sponsoring environmental days. He has also been a camp counselor with two conservation camps; one of which served all the Ridgewood, NJ 5th. graders. He was also the Range master and fishing counselor at the Florida Fish and Game Camp, which was a rewarding experience.

Carl attended William Paterson University and University of N. Colorado where he received his masters in school administration. He was in education for 37 years. Eight years of which were as a principal. He also was in the regular army for 3 years and 24 in the reserves. He was fortunate enough to be stationed in England, Germany, Japan and Panama as well as four other states. Carl fought fires, floods and hurricanes while in the reserves. He moved to Cape Coral in 1980.

Carl was instrumental in helping save part of the Babcock Ranch from development, which took about4 1/2 years. He has worked 24/7 on this goal. His goal is still to preserve ALL of the Ranch. Carl is active in all aspects of conservation, preservation and environmental causes. For example, he hopes to see the Cape Coral Golf Course become a park. He has also signed many petitions and written many letters to save the wolves, dolphin, eagles, and to stop global warming and endorse many other environmental causes.

Carl is a member of other environmental clubs; a Charter member of the Friends of Wildlife in Cape Coral, a board member for Audubon and Sierra Club, and member of the Nature Conservancy and Florida Wildlife Federation. Carl joined the RGMC in 2004.