Rimmon C Fay, 1929-2008
By Janet Bridgers 01/17/2008
Dr. Fay was among the coastal activists who achieved the passage of Proposition 20, the 1972 initiative that authorized the California Coastal Commission to handle the demanding question of how to balance public, private and nonhuman interests to the California coastline. As one of the first Coastal Commissioners, his unwillingness to compromise drew complaints to the appointing legislative body. After six years on the commission, he was removed ... and replaced by a developer.
After the passage of the federal Clean Water Act, Fay turned the tide of West Coast coastal communities requesting waivers to the act that allowed them to dump only partially treated sewage into the ocean with his successful opposition to the City of Oxnard's waiver request. Fay and Howard Bennett, a high school teacher and ocean swimmer, personally led the efforts to clean up Santa Monica Bay when they managed to have the City of Los Angeles' waiver request reversed after a nine-month campaign. Bennett described the problem of ocean water quality memorably and succinctly by saying, "when I'd feel ill after swimming, I used to think it was something I ate. Then I came to realize it was something someone else ate."
Rim held a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and did post-doctoral work at the University of Southern California in chemical oceanography. He tirelessly applied that training to discover and document the causes to what he saw every day underwater as a diver - the startling diminishment of biological diversity in what had been one of the most biologically rich areas of ocean in the world.
He brought another quality that is rare among scientists - fearless independence. Rim and his partner, Craig Barilotti, established Pacific Bio-Marine Labs, a company that sold marine specimens to laboratories all over the world. His self-employment allowed him to attend hearings and testify on behalf of the ocean without fear of censorship. And he did so for decades.
The list of his contributions to the coast is extensive. He helped end the dumping of DDT off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. He achieved the listing of the brown pelican as an endangered species. After a long legal battle, the settlement he helped to achieve with Southern California Edison over impacts by the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant not only helped fish populations, but also created a wetlands mitigation fund that provided the down payment for purchase of land at Ormond Beach.
And Rim never gave up. After moving to Port Hueneme in 2000 and fighting against challenges of poor health, he continued to attend hearings, wetlands meetings and to write letters on numerous issues. After becoming bedridden by a series of strokes, he dictated the letters he could no longer write himself opposing offshore liquefied natural gas terminals and repeatedly warned about the dangers that desalination posed to the delicate chemistry of coastal waters.
Above all, Fay's legacy is his example showing the difference that one person can make - in absolute defiance of the rampant cynicism of our day.
A memorial will be held at the Venice Beach breakwater on Jan. 20. e-mail Trevor Fay at trevcofay@aol.com or Earth Alert info@earthalert.org for details.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association and designated to "public education" or "junior lifeguards" at LACOLA Trust Fund, 524 Garnet, Unit B, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.
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