GREEN BAY – Paul Hartman would have been the last person to tell you so, but perhaps no one has had a bigger impact on horticulture in Green Bay.
From leading the push that made Green Bay Botanical Garden a reality to sounding the alarm that saved the old growth forest that’s a centerpiece of the Baird Creek Greenway to answering home gardeners’ questions for 30 years, Hartman’s roots in the community run deep.
As a founder of both Green Bay Botanical Garden and Baird Creek Preservation Foundation , he was a man who liked to say, “Plan the work and work the plan.” With those words and a smile on his face, he quite literally changed the landscape in the city.
“He was a tremendous optimist, and he had tremendous perseverance. He viewed that the important thing in life was to make this world a better place and his own small part of the world here in Green Bay,” said Charles Frisk, president of the Baird Creek Preservation Foundation.
“It was never about Paul and what he could do for himself. It was about what Paul could do for the community in general. There are people that are takers in this world and there are people that are givers, and Paul was the ultimate giver.”