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A Man About Ruskin

By LOIS KINDLE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

Updated: 11/01/2007 09:55 pm

RUSKIN - Fred Jacobsen has a fondness for all things Ruskin, so much so you would think he was one of its native sons.

But the San Diego native didn't know the community existed until three years ago, when he moved to Apollo Beach. Driving around the community, he said he wasn't all that impressed. But his notions soon changed when he met Sandy Council, Anne Davis and Arthur "Mac" Miller.

"I learned about the history and the people of this community" from them, Jacobsen said. "On second sight, I fell in love with Ruskin."

Since then, the 60-year-old has become immersed in the community's past, present and future.

Jacobsen began taking photographs of Ruskin and put them on his travel Web site, www.gothere.com. Shortly after his arrival, he and real estate agent Debbie Vogel started www.southshoretampa bay.com to promote South Shore communities, including Ruskin.

A bit of a history buff, Jacobsen became interested in the natural and cultural history of the area and subsequently created www.ruskinhistory.org, a Web site devoted to the people, places, events and things in Ruskin. Jacobsen filled it with photos, video clips, historical documents and articles about the community.

Upon visiting Ruskin's Camp Bayou Outdoor Education Center, he met Dolly Cummings. Jacobsen said he so appreciated the preserve's natural environment that he joined the Sierra Club.

He later became a Florida master naturalist through a program offered at Camp Bayou and sponsored by the University of Florida.

He leads nature and native history tours at Camp Bayou for elementary school and YMCA children.

Two months ago, Jacobsen was appointed to the Hillsborough County Historic Resources Review Board when Mac Miller resigned.

As the only board member representing South Shore, Jacobsen will aid in the documentation and preservation of historical landmarks and archeological sites in the county. He said he hopes to get some sort of dig going at Camp Bayou to go along with its Paleo Preserve, nature center and pre-Columbian culture studies.

In early October, he traveled to Gainesville to attend a DeSoto Trail Committee meeting. Starting in 2008, the National Parks Service, Florida Office of Greenways and Trails, Florida Park Service and the Florida Department of Transportation will begin to install 37 new informational kiosks from Ruskin to the Georgia border.

Jacobsen said Ruskin will get two of the kiosks - one at Cockroach Bay Preserve, where Hernando DeSoto is thought to have unloaded livestock to lighten his ship for travel up the Little Manatee River; and the other at E.G. Simmons Park, close to the Thomas Mound, the state's first documented Indian burial site off Shell Point Road. DeSoto and his men presumably camped near the mound for more than a month before heading north.

Recently, Jacobsen was instrumental in helping the Ruskin Historical Society get permission from Pattie Thornton, vice president of the SunTrust Bank branch in Ruskin, to store donated documents and artifacts in a secured, second-story, climate-controlled room at the bank.

"This will encourage more donations from the public, who want to share items with others in the community and with future generations," Jacobsen said.

He also was recently named to the board of the Friends of the SouthShoreRegional Library. On Nov. 10, as part of the library's one-year anniversary, Jacobsen will be part of an hourlong history talk. He also serves on the board of the SouthShoreArts Council and is a member of the SouthShore Roundtable.

This past week, Jacobsen was elected president of the Ruskin Community Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization that sponsors the annual Ruskin Tomato Festival, promotes Camp Bayou and supports a variety of community enhancement efforts. He also is running in the Ruskin Chamber of Commerce's honorary mayor's race. His campaign is raising money for Camp Bayou's educational programs for underserved children.

"Fred is a relative newcomer to the area, but he jumped in with both feet and got involved in a number of organizations benefiting South Shore, and particularly Ruskin," Cummings said. "He's all over the place. His willingness to step up on behalf of the community makes him one of our most valuable assets."

Others agree.

"He came like a good Santa Ana wind from San Diego," Miller said. "Every community needs someone like him who's committed to focus people and bring them together. Fred is definitely that person."

GET TO KNOW FRED JACOBSEN

BIRTHPLACE: San Diego

AGE: 60

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in social sciences from San Diego State College, 1969

MILITARY SERVICE: Air Force, 1969-73; Vietnam War veteran

EXPERIENCE: Retail credit manager for the San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 years

HOBBIES: Fishing; hiking, especially where he thinks no one has been; beach combing; kayaking; and growing herbs

FAVORITE FOOD: "I make some killer spaghetti."

LAST BOOK: "Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame

HIS DREAM: To own a little boat he can "mess around in"

BEST FRIEND: Without reservation, Paula, his wife of 20 years

CHILDREN: A son, Greg, who lives in San Diego