Jan Vandersloot's love of the environment

Jan Vandersloot, the Orange County environmental activist who died Nov. 4, was a dermatologist with a practice in Huntington Beach. He discussed the roots of his interest in the environment in a 2003 interview with Dermatology Times, tracing his passion to his youth in New Jersey

"I like birds. I would shovel snow off the ground to put birdseed down. That's what got me up in the morning," he said. "Since high school I've just loved watching the beautiful little creatures that were flying back and forth. That fascinated me."

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Jan Vandersloot in 2002. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times 

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Comments

[Laura Curran]

Thank you for the story on Jan van der Sloot. I knew him for 10 years, and what a gem.

He knew so much about history of environmental policy in Newport Beach/OC, and elected officials respected his input as honest and well-thought out.

We took many walks to look at plant sites and he was like a kid.

When working on projects, it was difficult to match his example of selfless dedication, but Jan always implied that anything one did on a project was incredibly valuable.

His family deserves credit for sharing Jan with us, because he was always underway for one effort or another. He was very proud of them, his roses, and his cats.

We are going to miss his humor and his shining example.