Open-Space Advocate Leaves Lasting Legacy in Laguna

When Barbara Stuart Rabinowitsh first became interested in preserving greenbelts back in 1969, someone asked her if she had taken up karate.

But in the following decades, Rabinowitsh became a central figure in the environmental movement to stop development in Laguna Canyon.

Rabinowitsh died last year at age 82, but she left a bequest of more than $500,000 to the Laguna Canyon Foundation--the largest gift ever given to the group.

The money will be combined with other funds to create a $1-million reserve that officials hope will be used to hinder Irvine Co. development in the surrounding area.

“This nest egg will give us the money to do the studies and the negotiations with the Irvine Co. that are necessary to preserve that land,” foundation President and founder Michael Pinto said. “It will be going to very, very good use.”

In honor of her generosity, the foundation named the largest of the Laguna Lakes in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park after her at a brief ceremony Saturday morning.

The announcement of the bequest coincided with a weekend celebration of the park, with hikes through Laurel Canyon, artists painting from the Laguna Plein-Air Painters Assn., and a native plant demonstration garden.

Rabinowitsh’s two sons, Ted and Stuart, attended the ceremony. Ted Rabinowitsh spoke of his mother as deeply committed to a vision of south Orange County with its natural habitats intact.

After she died, he found a letter written to thank the foundation for naming a hiking trail for her.

“I blushed and stammered and felt high as a kite,” she wrote.

The bequest, which has no strings attached, was indicative of her dedication to open space preservation, Pinto said.

In the late 1980s, the Irvine Co. owned the entire parcel that is now the wilderness park, and had the right to build 3,000 houses, a golf course, schools and other facilities.

Laguna Beach residents, however, taxed themselves $20 million to help preserve the area. Eventually, that tax revenue along with county and state funds were used to buy much of the land from the developer.

In 1995, the foundation could not raise the $15 million needed to purchase the final parcel, at the northeast edge of the park past the lakes, Pinto said. But the group still hopes the land will not be developed.