Writer and conservationist, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She studied at Wellesley College (1912) and worked as a journalist and teacher in Miami. Her book, The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), sounded an early warning of the environmental perils facing the Florida Everglades. In 1969 she co-founded Friends of the Everglades (1969) and is widely credited with helping to slow the destruction of the swamp ecosystem. She also wrote several works of juvenile literature.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (April 7, 1890 – May 14, 1998) was an American eminent conservationist and writer. The best of these stories have been collected by University of Florida professor Kevin McCarthy in two edited collections: A River In Flood and Nine Florida Stories.
She was most associated with battles to save the Florida Everglades from draining and overdevelopment, during which times she organized benefits and various marches. Her book The Everglades: River of Grass, written in 1947, has gone through numerous editions. At the age of 78, she founded Friends of the Everglades, an organization which is still at the forefront of Florida conservation.
Despite blindness and diminished hearing, she continued to be active into her second century, and was honored with the naming of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Ironically, the school is extremely close to the Everglades, and has had to face threats of sinking into the soil.) In 1993, then President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to a civilian.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas died at the age of 108 in 1998.
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