The Green Foothills community was saddened to learn of the passing of Bruce Frymire, an eloquent advocate for open space protection, who was our Santa Clara County Advocate from 1989-1991, and then served as a board member for several years.

Bruce’s interest in the environment began in his early years living in a semi-rural delta area of the San Joaquin Valley. Later as a young adult living in various European cities, his enjoyment of the breathtaking natural beauty in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria kindled his lifelong passion for land protection.

When Board President John Davey introduced Bruce to our membership in 1989, he noted that Bruce was not only passionate about preserving open space, but also had unique qualifications to be an Advocate, as he had experience in public relations and was a specialist in high tech.

Bruce’s reports in the Green Footnotes newsletter eloquently described the challenges that environmentalists faced in those fraught times: “We are reminded almost weekly that those who would populate every inch of Santa Clara Valley do not rest.” He noted with alarm that the County General Plan, a courageous bulwark against urban sprawl, was up for periodic review, and developers were likely to achieve sweeping changes to any limitations on their “insatiable drive to build, build, build.”

One of Bruce’s abiding passions over the years was hiking on the many trails in nearby Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District preserves. In an engaging 2014 article for the “In Menlo” publication, he touted the “king of the world” views at Russian Ridge, the fern grottos and redwood “cathedrals” at Purisima Creek Redwoods, and the stunning views of the Bay to the east and the mountains to the south from the top of Monte Bello Ridge. “All you need to access these trails is a willingness to start,” he noted.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Bruce for giving so generously of his energy and talent to advance environmental protection at such a crucial time. His broad smile, quick wit and persuasive abilities were tremendous assets for the “Greenies” of the 1990’s in maintaining hard-won early protections of our open hillsides, farmlands, forests and creeks.

We are also deeply grateful for his family’s request that donations in Bruce’s name be made to Green Foothills.