Photo by Peter Roper, courtesy of The Pueblo Chieftain
Environmental champion Ross Vincent, a Sierra Club leader in Louisiana and Colorado for nearly half a century, died of cancer last month in Pueblo, Colorado, where he had made his home for the last 30 years. He was 75.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Vincent earned a degree in chemistry from the University of Delaware and studied chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis before settling in New Orleans in the late 1960s.
A chemist by profession, Vincent was among the earliest environmentalists in the Crescent City, where he founded the Ecology Center in January 1970 and helped organize the city’s first Earth Day activities in April of that same year. Below, Vincent in 1970, flanked by fellow New Orleans environmental activists Rita Webb and Fred Hendrix.
Photo ©2018 NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
“I suppose [state officials] dismissed us as silly people off doing their thing,” Vincent told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in a 1990 interview, referring to Louisiana lawmakers’ mocking criticism of environmentalists. "A serious response didn't come until later when they found out that concern with the environment wasn't a fad and it wasn't going away.”
One of the first fights Vincent took up in his two decades of environmental activism in the Bayou State was stopping the widespread spraying of Mirex, a chemical used to kill fire ants. The insecticide was banned nationwide in 1978.
Vincent’s move to Pueblo in 1988 with his wife, Dr. Velma Campbell, was acknowledged in a Times-Picayune editorial as “a loss to Louisiana.”
In the Centennial State, Vincent -- who became known as “the face of the Pueblo-area Sierra Club” – spearheaded the successful effort to stop the Army from using outdated incinerators to destroy chemical weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot to using water-based weapon neutralization, and to limit pollution from Xcel Energy’s Comanche 3 coal-fired power plant.
“I think Ross thought he’d moved to Colorado to relax, only to discover we needed him here, too,” David Cockrell, conservation chair for the Sierra Club’s Colorado Chapter, told The Pueblo Chieftain. “Ross was fiercely protective of Pueblo and fiercely inclusive of every kind of person.”
Vincent also led the Sierra Club’s opposition to a planned 7-million-acre expansion of a military maneuver site on private lands proposed for purchase -- or, if necessary, seizure by eminent domain. The proposed expansion was downsized to 418,000 acres to be acquired only from willing sellers.
“That may have surprised people that Ross found allies in the ranching community, but he was willing to work with anyone toward a common goal,” said Cockrell.
Pueblo County Commissioner Terry Hart told the Chieftain he was “devastated” when he got word of Vincent’s death. “I don’t think most people know how lucky we were to have Ross on our side, the public’s side. He was incredibly intelligent and determined and never sought any attention for himself.”
Clean water was among Vincent’s great passions, and in 2005 he founded the Fountain Creek Water Sentinels, a Sierra Club grassroots team that successfully pressured the city of Colorado Springs to stop polluting Fountain Creek, which runs south through Pueblo. Below, Vincent talks with Sal Pace, district director for then-U.S. Congressman John Salazar.
Photo courtesy of the Sierra Club
“Ross was a mentor and a motivator,” says Colorado Sierra Club vice chair Fran Silva-Blaney. “His work will continue, as he laid the groundwork for continued stewardship and restoration of the Fountain Creek watershed. We will miss Ross and strive to honor his legacy.”
Vincent received the national Sierra Club’s Environmental Alliance Award in 2004 for forming a coalition of environmentalists, labor unions, community groups, and the Catholic diocese to address the problem of chemical weapons disposal. In 2014, the Colorado Chapter honored him as Grassroots Conservationist of the Year. During his final months, Vincent continued to serve on the citizen advisory committees for the Pueblo Chemical Depot and the Colorado Smelter Superfund site in Pueblo.
"Ross was highly respected by both government officials and his Sierra Club peers, always willing to share his time and formidable expertise to help solve complex pollution problems," says former Water Sentinels director Scott Dye, who worked closely with Vincent for the better part of a decade. "His keen intellect, gentle soul, sly wit, and resolute determination will be missed by all who worked with him."