It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Lee Baxandall, the founder of The Naturist Society, on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 2008. Lee was 73, and had been suffering with Parkinson's Disease for a number of years.

Lee's story, so integrally associated with TNS, was summarized in a recent issue of the SFFB SunDial. If you missed the article, you may read it here starting on page 5.

Lee not only founded TNS, but also developed its adjunct organizations the Naturist Action Committee and the Naturist Education Foundation.

Lee also presented the message of naturism in TNS' magazine, initially named Clothed with the Sun, and subsequently Nude and Natural, as well as in the World Guide to Nude Beaches and Resorts.

Lee conceived National Nude Beach Day, which evolved into National Nude Weekend and National Nude Recreation Week. He established The Naturist Society Gatherings in 1981, since then held each year throughout the USA.

Lee poses with Phineas Baxandall & Joanna Moore for 1980's publicity photo for National Nude Weekend.

Lee was interested in inclusiveness, and was responsible for TNS' standing non-discrimination policies, respecting all who adhered to the naturist philosophy, including establishing a TNS Special Interest Group in 1983 that would eventually become Gay Naturists International.

Lee was also a person without whom Haulover's clothing-optional beach may never have come into existence. Tom Chittenden met Baxandall on Cape Cod in the 1970's, when Baxandall was a leader of the Free the Free Beach Committee, working to keep a traditional clothing-optional section at Truro Beach.

Tom shortly moved to South Florida, where he became one of the founders of South Florida Free Beaches, and its first president. The organization Tom founded, SFFB, went on to found Haulover's clothing-optional section in 1991, under the leadership of Shirley Mason, Richard Mason, and Mallika Sarrow.

Lee has been an inspiration to many in the naturist movement, and he will be sorely missed.

Tom Chittenden and Lee Baxandall, Virginia Key, circa 1982.