Rob Patten

Rob Patten grew up on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. He came to Sarasota in the 1970s to work as a marine biologist for Sarasota County, forming the Coastal Zone Management Department and the Natural Resources Department, eventually managing the Environmental Services Department. He has continued to be a leader in environmental protection and restoration efforts in the area, and was a driving force behind legislation to protect a third of Sarasota County’s lands for conservation and public use.

Student Interviewer: Carley Culmo

Carley is a fourth-year student at New College of Florida. She studies digital media and globalization within the humanities and social sciences, and is working on a thesis about experiencing materiality in technologically mediated realities. She appreciates the personal nature of oral history and values the active exchange involved in storytelling.