2002 Peter S. Thacher Award Recipient: Lyman Orton
For his personal passion and commitment to using GIS to empower citizens and communities to better plan for future generations, the Northeastern Arc Users Group is honored to present the 2002 Thacher Award to Lyman Orton.
Both Lyman Orton and Peter Thacher are cut from the same mold; they were/are driven by strong community spirit, vision, and commitment to fair and equitable planning that protects public interests, the economic vitality of an area, and the environmental underpinnings of our communities. Both recognize GIS as a core instrument in achieving environmental protection at the local level.
Peter and Lyman were/are successful in their day jobs that did not involve mainstream GIS. Peter was a senior counselor for an environmental think-tank in Washington DC and was a career statesman and diplomat most of his professional life. Lyman manages a family business – a mail order and retail business that sells cheese and a catalog full of other items – in rural Vermont. Both have left a permanent, positive mark on society from their day jobs; be it international agreements on environmental issues, or a successful business that caters to the needs of rural America. Both have excelled in their professions, but their passion is fulfilled outside bounds the 40 hour work week. Peter worked nights and weekends to bring GIS into the Stonington, Connecticut planning process. Many of the core data in the Stonington data volume were developed by Mr. Thacher. Lyman Orton has committed significant resources to the development of GIS tools to support the planning efforts for rural communities throughout New England and America.
Lyman Orton is Founder and Chairman of The Orton Family Foundation. A graduate of Middlebury College, he joined the Orton family business, The Vermont Country Store, in 1964 and built it into a national mail-order company that currently employs 350 people in four locations in Vermont.
After years of observing the shortcomings of zoning as a tool for enabling citizens and officials of rural communities to manage growth in a way that both enhances economic vitality and preserves a rural way of life, Lyman established The Orton Family Foundation in 1995. He is Chairman and Proprietor of The Vermont Country Store and is funding The Foundation using profits derived from that business.
The Orton Family Foundation has programs to support planning in rural communities. The CommunityViz Project is a major GIS-based effort of the Foundation. CommunityViz is an ArcView extension that can be used to visualize in three dimensions how landscapes will look after development scenarios are played out. CommunityViz also models where development will likely occur and measures what the economic and social costs of projects might be for a community. CommunityViz is a major software product and the Orton Foundation, under Lyman’s vision and leadership, has invested many millions of dollars in its development. The Foundation also commissions books and research studies on environmental planning, holds workshops and conferences, and educates citizens on the implications of sprawl and poorly planned development.
Lyman Orton manifests the all traits NEARC celebrates with the Peter Thacher Award. Like Peter, he is driven to make the world a better place for current and future generations. Both understood that environmental protection, economic development, and social equity were not mutually exclusive goals; all could be achieved with careful planning that engaged a diversity of interests and stakeholders in a community. Both understood that GIS technology was a core tool in the process and work(ed) tirelessly to integrate it into local planning. If Peter Thacher was born in rural Vermont with a cheese knife in his hand, he would have followed the career path that Lyman has charted.
Both Lyman Orton and Peter Thacher are cut from the same mold; they were/are driven by strong community spirit, vision, and commitment to fair and equitable planning that protects public interests, the economic vitality of an area, and the environmental underpinnings of our communities. Both recognize GIS as a core instrument in achieving environmental protection at the local level.
Peter and Lyman were/are successful in their day jobs that did not involve mainstream GIS. Peter was a senior counselor for an environmental think-tank in Washington DC and was a career statesman and diplomat most of his professional life. Lyman manages a family business – a mail order and retail business that sells cheese and a catalog full of other items – in rural Vermont. Both have left a permanent, positive mark on society from their day jobs; be it international agreements on environmental issues, or a successful business that caters to the needs of rural America. Both have excelled in their professions, but their passion is fulfilled outside bounds the 40 hour work week. Peter worked nights and weekends to bring GIS into the Stonington, Connecticut planning process. Many of the core data in the Stonington data volume were developed by Mr. Thacher. Lyman Orton has committed significant resources to the development of GIS tools to support the planning efforts for rural communities throughout New England and America.
Lyman Orton is Founder and Chairman of The Orton Family Foundation. A graduate of Middlebury College, he joined the Orton family business, The Vermont Country Store, in 1964 and built it into a national mail-order company that currently employs 350 people in four locations in Vermont.
After years of observing the shortcomings of zoning as a tool for enabling citizens and officials of rural communities to manage growth in a way that both enhances economic vitality and preserves a rural way of life, Lyman established The Orton Family Foundation in 1995. He is Chairman and Proprietor of The Vermont Country Store and is funding The Foundation using profits derived from that business.
The Orton Family Foundation has programs to support planning in rural communities. The CommunityViz Project is a major GIS-based effort of the Foundation. CommunityViz is an ArcView extension that can be used to visualize in three dimensions how landscapes will look after development scenarios are played out. CommunityViz also models where development will likely occur and measures what the economic and social costs of projects might be for a community. CommunityViz is a major software product and the Orton Foundation, under Lyman’s vision and leadership, has invested many millions of dollars in its development. The Foundation also commissions books and research studies on environmental planning, holds workshops and conferences, and educates citizens on the implications of sprawl and poorly planned development.
Lyman Orton manifests the all traits NEARC celebrates with the Peter Thacher Award. Like Peter, he is driven to make the world a better place for current and future generations. Both understood that environmental protection, economic development, and social equity were not mutually exclusive goals; all could be achieved with careful planning that engaged a diversity of interests and stakeholders in a community. Both understood that GIS technology was a core tool in the process and work(ed) tirelessly to integrate it into local planning. If Peter Thacher was born in rural Vermont with a cheese knife in his hand, he would have followed the career path that Lyman has charted.