Featured Legacy Donors: Karl and Nancy Hutterer
Karl Hutterer has been a key figure at the Community Environmental Council (CEC) for a number of years, and we are thrilled to feature him and his wife Nancy in this month's Legacy Donor profile. Besides being a member of CEC's Livable World Legacy Society, Karl led the establishment of our Legacy giving program as a part of the 50th Anniversary Protect Our Climate campaign, is a member of CEC's President's Council, and was formally on our Board of Directors.
The connection between people and nature has been a central focus of Karl’s life from an early age. He was born and raised on a tiny subsistence farm in the foothills of the Alps, imbuing in him a lifelong love of the land, growing things, and, ultimately, ecology. At university, Karl studied philosophy, theology, and anthropology. He spent four years at the University of San Carlos in the Philippines, conducting research in both ethnography and archaeology and went on to earn his Ph.D. in anthropology in 1973 from the University of Hawaii. It was during his doctoral studies that Karl met his wife Nancy (they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary last month!), who also studied anthropology.
Karl has conducted archaeological research in Hawaii, Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos, with a special interest in the adaptation of human societies and cultures to tropical environments. Karl has taught at Bryn Mawr College, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington, where he also served as director of the university’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Karl has been elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served on several national and state boards of museum and nonprofit organizations. Last year, the Wilding Museum honored him with their annual Wilderness Spirit Award, in recognition of a person or group who strives to bring awareness to wilderness protection and preservation.
Nancy devoted much of her life and career to teaching “nontraditional” learners—in Ann Arbor she worked with preschoolers (with a focus on early childhood development) and teaching in a high school for adults. In Seattle, she worked with troubled teens (e.g., high schoolers who had been expelled from school). Together Nancy and Karl have raised two daughters and have three granddaughters.
From 2000-2012, Karl took on the role of Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, which brought him and Nancy to Santa Barbara—and fortunately, into the CEC fold. Nancy took a position at Santa Barbara Community College where she taught courses at the county jail to help inmates pass the GED test.
Karl began volunteering with CEC in 2013 as a member of the Board of Directors, and eventually joined the President's Council. He's been pivotal to building CEC’s Legacy Donor program, and his efforts to recruit new donors helped make CEC's recently closed 50th Anniversary Protect Our Climate Campaign a major success, raising about $6.75 million for legacy gifts. In addition to the generous time Karl devotes to volunteering with CEC, he and Nancy “walk the walk” when it comes to being Legacy Donors—together, they have generously established a legacy gift to CEC that will help sustain our climate work into the future.
CEC is deeply grateful to Karl and Nancy for their support, and for Karl’s countless volunteer hours in support of our mission (we also thank him for his warmth and positive attitude). Volunteers like Karl lift our spirits and give us hope for building a bright future along our Central Coast—together, we build a just, resilient, and thriving community for generations to come.
To join Karl and Nancy and become a member of CEC's Livable World Legacy Society and learn more about how easy it is to establish a legacy gift, you can reach out to Karl at klhutterer@gmail.com or visit our website to learn more.