Peter M. Douglas dies at 69; California Coastal Commission chief
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - 01:05
in Paleontology & Archaeology
For more than 25 controversial years, Peter M. Douglas fought to preserve California's shoreline as well as the independence of the powerful regulatory agency he helped create.As a child crossing the English Channel with his family to immigrate to America, Peter M. Douglas was mesmerized by the churning seas and his first sighting of a whale, an experience that he said forged an "intangible, unbreakable, lifelong bond" with the ocean that deepened as he grew up in Southern California.