It was with no small measure of sadness that I read about the passing of Bob Breen last week, at the age of 73. Bob was the supervising ranger for the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve for 35 years, and taught many volunteers to become naturalists, and advocates for the environment.
We met Bob through our friend June Morrall, Half Moon Bay and the Coastside’s local historian, when she asked us to photograph & interview Bob for the Arcadia book on Moss Beach that she was writing. If there was ever a face to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, Bob’s was it. He was the spokesperson for the reserve, and an educator – in fact, there is an annual scholarship awarded each year to a graduating Half Moon Bay High School senior planning a career in the sciences, named the “Bob Breen Scholarship Award”.
Bob was a real sport when my husband Michael had him run the gamut of poses for the book, some of which I have included here. All the while, I was asking questions. Did he miss his ranger duties (he had been retired for several years when we took the photos of him in October, 2009). Nope, he didn’t miss his duties, and was enjoying his retirement, but added that he was still very much involved with the reserve and environmental issues. He told us about how many years it took to repair the damage to the reserve when the film crew for “Memoirs of a Geisha” filmed there. Bob also spoke about the tide pools, and their delicate eco-system.
After a few more questions and photos, we thanked him, leaving with a greater appreciation for the reserve, a place where we had done a lot of photography, which we called “The Magic Forest”. For more information about Bob Breen & his legacy, The Friends of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve have a page dedicated to Bob here:http://www.fitzgeraldreserve.org/newffmrsite/remembering-bob-breen/
