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| A Friend of the Earth |
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| About Bob |
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Robert B. Ragland, M.D. was born, raised and
continues to live in Jacksonville, Florida. After attending
Virginia Military Institute, he went to the University of Florida where
he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941. He then graduated from Duke
University Medical School, where he also did his internship in
Pediatrics. Upon finishing his residency at Vanderbilt University
Hospital and a third year at Duke, he returned to Jacksonville where he
began his private practice.
In 1956 he closed his practice and enrolled in
the Seminary at Sewanee, The University of the South, where he remained
until he accepted a fellowship at Chapel Hill in child psychiatry.
He entered psychiatric practice in Asheville, NC, but then
returned to Jacksonville in 1964 to begin a long battle to try to save
his family property (affectionately known as "Grandma's Farm") from
destruction by the building of Interstate Highway 295 around
Jacksonville. His efforts propelled him headlong into the role of
environmental activist and crusader for social justice. In 2008
he was presented with the Champion of the Environment Award by the
Sierra Club, in recognition of his lifelong accomplishments as a
defender of the Planet Earth.His autobiography, Genesis of a Rebel, published in
2008, tells his story of a life of rebel, who for all of his pursuit of
causes, is at heart a very gentle man and a lover of nature.
This website is a continuation of that story,
as transcribed from his Smith Corona manual typewriter by a group of
passionate friends and fellow rebels.