Richard Braren

Richard Braren is a long-time resident of Sarasota, whose family came to the area in the 1950s to develop one of the area’s working class neighborhoods, locally known as The Uplands. While his father built a great many of the houses in Siesta Key, North Gate and Bayshore, Richard grew up engrossed fully in Sarasota’s environs, discovering early a passion for the water that eventually would lead him to a career with the Navy and a life of boat building and racing. This love brought him back to Sarasota where he would settle down and practice law. Today, Richard resides in the house his father built all those years ago and enjoys taking in the luscious sunsets over the bay where access is still permitted for Uplands residents to this day.

Student Interviewer: Andrew Hess

Andrew Hess is a fourth-year student at New College who is concentrating his studies on history. He is interested in the ways society and culture intersect with environmental issues in our communities. He is currently working on his senior thesis, an assessment and analysis of the burgeoning practice of “sensory history.”

Interview Transcripts