JULIA BARTH REISKIND

1941 - 2020

REISKIND, JULIA BARTH
Julia Barth Reiskind, 79, Beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, Julia Barth Reiskind, 79, passed away Friday, July 10, 2020 in Gainesville.
She was born Julia Anne in Hackensack, NJ on June 26, 1941, to Robert Hood and Julia Isabelle Barth (Bown). She grew up in Ridgewood, NJ, graduating from Ridgewood H.S. in 1959. She received her A.B. in Biology from Goucher College in 1963 and received a PhD in Botany from the University of Florida in 1980, earning that year's Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. After a couple of postdoctoral positions at UF she continued as a research scientist in the Department of Botany at UF until her retirement in 2015. She was a friend and mentor to students and colleagues alike. Studying the biochemistry of photosynthesis, she published more than 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles including papers in Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. On February 12, 1966 she married Jon Reiskind in Boston, MA. They moved to Gainesville, FL in 1967, and had two children, Julia Alexandra ('Alix') and Michael Hay.
Julia was active in many community groups. She was on the board of the local Planned Parenthood in the 1990's and was a long-time member of the Alachua County League of Women Voters where recently she chaired the Natural Resources Committee.
Living in her neighborhood, Sugarfoot, since 1971 she has long been involved with the Sugarfoot Community Improvement Association. Over the last ten years she has coordinated the productive community garden in Green Acres Park for the many participating gardeners. Long an advocate for bicycling (both for recreation and commuting) she was a member of Gainesville's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board and Gainesville Citizens for Active Transportation.
Politically she represented precinct 32 on the Alachua County Democratic Executive Committee, was active in the Democratic Women's Club and in the Blue Wave Coalition of Alachua County in 2020. She spoke out frequently for the causes she cared about.
She loved travel and she and her husband ventured throughout the world highlighted by ecologically oriented trips to Namibia, Papua New Guinea, and the Galapagos. She also enjoyed cooking and baking for the grateful pleasure of others. Over the last two decades she and her family spent their summers at their camps on Norton Pond in Vermont, boating, swimming and hiking; this gave her great pleasure.
Julia is survived by her husband, Jon, their two children, Alix Reiskind (Cheney Brand) and Michael Reiskind (Martha) and five grandchildren: Dashiell Hood Brand, Julia Rose Brand, Gabriel Wallace Reiskind, James Overton Reiskind, and Christina Rashida Cooper as well as her brother, Robert Hood Barth, Jr. She is also survived by Ivor Kincaide, a beloved member of the family.
Julia was an inspiration to us all and will be sorely missed by her family and the community; she will be loved forever.
She is buried in the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery.
The family is planning a celebration of Julia's life after the pandemic is resolved. They ask in lieu of flowers donations be made in Julia's name to the Alachua Conservation Trust and/or Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, Inc. Arrangements under the care of Countryside Funeral Home, Anthony, FL.