Ned in a Nutshell
February 8, 1916 – December 19, 2008
rom his yard on the edge of Tulsa, a feisty, seven-year-old Ned Fritz could see the Cross Timbers unfurl endlessly. Tenacious post oaks held firm to the limestone hills; wildflowers brightened the woodland glades. In late summer, sunflowers blanketed the land in luminescent yellow.
Ned Fritz as a Boy Scout in Tulsa.
Such a bucolic life was a long way from his first seven years in Philadelphia, where the young redhead defended himself with fists against neighborhood bully boys. Here in the Osage hills, nature beckoned and adventures awaited. Scout leaders born of the red Oklahoma dirt endowed Ned with outdoor skills. His high school fostered his leadership potential and love of singing.
Young adulthood in Navy aviation during World War II’s waning years awakened in him the value of a great fight for a just cause. A whirlwind courtship and marriage to fellow nature lover Genie led to a profoundly abiding partnership. Their scrappy early years in a sprawling development for returning veterans created a deep empathy for low-income housing issues. An early successful legal career prosecuting consumer fraud and usury, mainly against minorities and the poor, instilled in him the call to defend the defenseless.
The young Fritz family: Ned, Eileen, Genie, Judy, Linda, and Gayle.
Just as vital were the personal connections, starting with a loving homemaker mother, Ethel, and a father, Edward P., with deep ethical standards who encouraged kindness toward people of all races. Life-long friends and tennis partners gave him respite from his driven ambitions. A supportive homelife with Genie and their four daughters—Eileen, Gayle, Judy, and Linda—made him immensely proud. Homelife was enlivened with adventurous family nature vacations and fun games at home. Deeply restorative birdwatching quelled his active mind by giving it endless details upon which to obsess.
ed needed all the skills from that bruising experience for the fight of his life ahead. Timber interests run amok in the national forests in East Texas aimed to clearcut vast acreage of mixed hardwood and conifer forest and turn it all into Loblolly pine plantations. For these voiceless green sentinels, Ned relentlessly pursued lawsuits and legislation. His strategy was brilliant and contentious, even among colleagues. He was for trees. His loyalty resided solely there.
e amazed in the lists below at all the incredible achievements this hard-working man and his wife forged. As more sections come online, read on about his environmental adventures and revel in tributes from the many he influenced, inspired, and even launched their eco-careers. Let the elegant and insightful words of his poetry stir your soul. Dive deep into the website’s action guide of resources and educational opportunities meant to generate future Ned and Genies.
met Ned nearly 50 years ago when I was a student at SMU. Not quite sure where I was politically, ideologically, or anything else, but I was for the environment. He was trying to stop a chemical company from spreading lead all over South Dallas. I wanted to help him with his environmental activities. Before I knew it, I was one of his minions.
