Maggy Hurchalla ( Reno; December 11, 1940 – February 19, 2022) was an American environmental activist from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. As a

Martin County, Florida Martin County ( es, Condado de Martín, link=) is a county located in the Treasure Coast region of the state of Florida, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,431. Its county seat is Stuart. Martin County is in t ...

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 Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida, in 1920. She was born in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

,Michael Browning
Janet Reno: Her sister remembers their childhood in South Florida
''Palm Beach Post'' (November 7, 2016). on December 11, 1940. Her mother Jane Wood Reno and her father Henry Olaf Reno were both journalists who wrote for the '' Miami Herald''. Hurchalla was the third of four children. Her elder sister was

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

, who served as State Attorney for Dade County and then Attorney General of the United States during the Bill Clinton administration. Hurchalla graduated from

Coral Gables Senior High School Coral Gables Senior High School is a secondary school located at 450 Bird Road in Coral Gables, Florida. Coral Gables SHS opened its doors in 1950; its architectural design reflects a Spanish influence, with open courtyards adorned with water f ...

and then attended Swarthmore College, from which she graduated in 1962.

Career

Hurchalla became involved in environmental activism after of Hutchinson Island was sold to a developer in 1972 instead of being conserved. In 1974, Hurchalla became a county commissioner of

, serving in this role until 1994, when she was defeated by Elmira Gainey. She was the county's first female county commissioner. Known for her strong

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

views, she served on the state board of the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

and on the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida.

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, 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 The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving w ...

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 Tortious interference, also known as intentional interference with contractual relations, in the common law of torts, occurs when one person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationships with a third party, causing e ...

. 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. In July 2018, her car and two of her kayaks were seized by court order, though Lake Point later returned them. Hurchalla appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal in June 2019; in 2021, the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

denied a request to hear an appeal.

Awards and honors

In 2002, she was named the Everglades Coalition's Conservationist of the Year. In 2003 she won a National Wetlands Award from the

Environmental Law Institute The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to "make law work for people, places, and the planet" through its work as an environmental law educator, convener, publ ...

for volunteer leadership. In 2019 she gave the keynote address at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Friends of the Everglades.

Personal life and death

Hurchalla was married to Jim Hurchalla, formerly an engineer for Pratt & Whitney. They have four children. Hurchalla was in remission from

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

as of 2019. She appeared with her sister Janet Reno in " Dark Knight Court", a 2013 episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'', as Reno. Reno’s

Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a chronic condition, long-term neurodegeneration, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disea ...

made it difficult for her to speak, so Hurchalla voiced the character’s longer lines. Hurchalla lived in Stuart, Florida. She died from cardiac arrest on February 19, 2022, while she was recovering from a hip surgery. She was 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurchalla, Maggie 1940 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American women People from Coral Gables, Florida Politicians from Miami People from Stuart, Florida Activists from Florida American environmentalists American women environmentalists Swarthmore College alumni County commissioners in Florida Women in Florida politics