Environmental activist Gene Boyd dies Oct. 29

Time after time, the Boyds stood before Lee County commissioners and urged, begged, pleaded and threatened in an effort to get them to protect the environment from development. Many times the Boyds sat through long hours of public hearings to amend the county's growth management plan, often the only ones there not being paid by developers.

Repeatedly the Boyds and the group they helped found, the Responsible Growth Management Coalition, sued to enforce provisions of the county's land-use regulations.

Most famous, or infamous, was the challenge to the site selection for Florida Gulf Coast University. The site offered by Ben Hill Griffin and Alico was too remote, they argued, and would draw development into areas better left aside for habitat and environmental protection.

The Boyds finally agreed to a compromise, one that spawned the creation of the Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management. Before they did, however, they were pilloried as anti-university, an uncomfortable label for two Ph.D.'s who had taught college students themselves.

"We realized the pressing need for a university here," Ellie Boyd said. "We were all for the university, just not there."

The Boyds fought against ringing Estero Bay with high-rises. They fought to protect the undeveloped expanses east of Interstate 75. They fought against government and against private developers. They grew tired of fighting in 1996 and moved to rural Texas, but returned to Lee County in 2000.

"To me, Gene Boyd was the father of smart growth in Lee County," said Commission Chairman Ray Judah, whose own arguments paralleled the Boyds' in the early days, leaving him on the losing end of numerous 4-1 votes. "He was absolutely invaluable during the '80s when Lee County was bringing the plan back into consistency. He worked so hard to hold county commissioners accountable."

The Boyds were seen then by some commissioners as a thorn in the county's side. Commissioners once discussed suing the coalition to try to recapture the cost of defending against its lawsuits, a cost county attorneys pegged at more than $1 million.

Commissioners should have been thanking them, Judah said. Today the pendulum has swung, and environmental watchdogs fight on a more even footing. Had the Boyds and a few others like them not have laid the groundwork, Judah said, there might be nothing left to fight for.

"I don't know if this community will ever understand how valuable Gene and Ellie Boyd were back then," he said.

Brian Griffin is a member of the county's Smart Growth committee, and a longtime member of the Responsible Growth Management Coalition.

"I actually got interested in county government through Gene Boyd in 1988," Griffin said. "He was maligned as anti-university when what he was really pushing for was smart growth."

The Boyds were right, Griffin said. The university has been a magnet for growth, drawing development into what was a remote area, straining infrastructure and demanding government expenditures to tackle the demands of the growth.

Ellie Boyd said it was hard in the early days, but worth it, and she'll continue the fight.

"It was pretty lonesome," she said. "But I think more people are waking up. I've noticed a different atmosphere since we moved back.

"I'm kind of proud of him," Ellie said of her late husband. "He always said he couldn't do it without me, and I sometimes kept him from saying some things. We were always together and it's pretty lonesome without him. But he wanted me to carry on."