The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation (HBOIF) has announced Alma Lee Loy as the guest of honor for the third annual “Love Your Lagoon” dinner on Friday, Feb. 7, 2014 at 6 p.m. at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), 5600 US 1 North, in Fort Pierce. Proceeds from the event will support the annual Indian River Lagoon Symposium and benefit scientific research on the lagoon, conducted by FAU Harbor Branch.

“I am thankful for the honor of joining with FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute,” said Loy. “Their continuing discoveries bring new paths to a better life for all mankind.”

Low is a successful business owner, public servant and steward of community organizations.  Her life history of service is vast — founder of Alma Lee’s Children’s Clothing Store in Vero Beach, the first female elected to the Indian River Board of County Commissioners and one of the first women in the state to be elected chair of a county commission.

Loy served as the president of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce as well as the Indian River Land Trust, was a founding member and president of the county’s United Way and is a former member of the IRSC Foundation Board of Directors.

Loy’s environmental leadership was demonstrated by her passionate work to save McKee Botanical Garden from commercial development 15 years ago. Loy was recognized in 1995 by the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce with the establishment of the Alma Lee Loy Community Service Award, and more recently with the naming of the Alma Lee Loy Chamber of Commerce Building honoring her decades of leadership in business and community organizations. In 2012, local leaders renamed the 17th Street Bridge in Vero Beach in her honor.

Loy was selected by the HBOIF board of directors to serve as this year’s guest of honor because of her long-standing role in local leadership and commitment to the environment and the Indian River Lagoon.