Michael H. Remy

REMY, MICHAEL H.
Michael H. Remy, a leading figure in the environmental and legal communities both in Sacramento and throughout California, passed away at his home in Fair Oaks on Wednesday morning. Known as both a preeminent legal scholar and leader in local and statewide environmental causes, Mr. Remy died after a prolonged bout with prostate cancer. His legal career, most of which was devoted to building what became the leading environmental and land use law firm known as Remy and Thomas and later as Remy, Thomas and Moose, started at a point in time when both Congress and the California Legislature began to enact the statutes that have become the bedrock of environmental protection. Mr. Remy was respected as one of the leading experts on the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), the law that requires public input into agency decisions adversely affecting the environment. He was also widely admired and loved by his colleagues and friends, who regarded him as a man of extraordinary intelligence, personal integrity, kindness, and generosity. He is survived by his loving wife Trudy, his devoted daughter Camille, his mother Helga, and his brothers Peter and Thomas. He also leaves two "adopted daughters" Roslyn Schlenker (Jerry) and Cici Remy, MD, and three "adopted grandchildren" Danielle, Nicole and Eli. He was preceded in death by his son Christopher, who passed away in 1984. Mr. Remy was born in Posen, Poland, in 1944, during the height of World War II. His family moved to the Bay Area in 1958. After marrying his high school sweetheart in 1964 and obtaining a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967, Mr. Remy attended law school at the newly-formed King Hall at the University of California at Davis. He received his law degree and passed the bar in 1970, and then began his law career as an attorney for the California Department of Water Resources. There, his work included helping to prepare statewide regulations implementing CEQA, which had just been enacted by the Legislature. In 1974, he began to teach at California State University at Sacramento, where until 1986 he continued to inspire undergraduates and graduate students in courses on environmental law, water law, and environmental ethics. Graduates of his courses can be found in nearly every planning department and state agency in California, where his influence lives on. In 1977, while still teaching, he began his career in private practice, which he continued actively up until his death. In 1979, he hired a new law graduate named Tina Thomas, who became his close friend and partner for the next 24 years. In 1980, he was named President of the Planning and Conservation League ("PCL"), a statewide organization representing environmental interests in the Capitol. He served in that capacity for ten years. During that period, PCL became a proponent of several major initiative measures that, after being passed by the voters, have led to increased funding for transit infrastructure and the acquisition of open space and habitat. During his 24 years in private practice, Remy and his partners built their firm into a statewide powerhouse with expertise in CEQA and related environmental laws. During that period, he and his firm participated in litigation that resulted in approximately two dozen precedent-setting Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court decisions addressing environmental issues. They also published, and continued to publish, a treatise on CEQA that has become a handbook for judges, agency officials, professional planners and consultants, and citizen activists all over California. Over the years, his clients included not only numerous environmental organizations, but also public agencies and project applicants who sought his advice regarding the potential pitfalls associated with compliance with CEQA and other environmental statutes. These clients included the Mountain Lion Foundation, PCL, the Center for Natural Lands Management, Sacramentans for Safe Energy, the Metropolitan Water District, Butte County, numerous other counties and cities, and other public agencies, as well as prominent developers. Among Remy's most notable accomplishments were the following: heading the successful political and legal efforts to shut down the Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant; representing the Sierra Club in its battles with Squaw Valley Ski Corporation over environmental impacts associated with the creation of new ski runs; representing various environmental and animal rights groups in their efforts to require environmental review for the setting of hunting seasons for mountain lions, tule elk, and black bears; representing environmentalists in their efforts to obtain "endangered" status for the winter run chinook salmon and California gnatcatcher; and working with grassroots citizens organizations all over the state in dealing with complex environmental issues associated with proposed development projects. In 1990, the Environmental Council of Sacramento named Mr. Remy "Environmentalist of the Year." Mr. Remy's partners and friends uniformly describe him as one of the finest people they have ever known, a truly kind and generous individual with whom they had the privilege to work, and whom they felt lucky to call their friend. Mr. Remy's widow has asked that persons wishing to remember her husband should make donations to the Planning and Conservation Foundation, 926 J Street, Suite 612, Sacramento, 95814. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 6, 2003 at 4:30 PM at Shields Grove and Gazebo at the UC Davis Arboretum, with a reception to follow at the University Club.