Mike is an avid angler (having fished and floated the Muskegon River for more than fifty years),bicycle rider, gardener, meat hunter, amateur naturalist, cook, husband, father and grandfather. Mike is a Life Member of these conservation organizations: Trout Unlimited, Ruffed Grouse Society, Muskegon River Watershed Assembly and Friends of the Lower Suwanee Federal Wildlife Refuge. Mike also currently serves on the Advancement Committee for the University of Florida’s Nature Coast Biological Station.
Mike and his wife, Kathleen, split each year between homes in Florida and Michigan. Their Michigan home is on Ryerson Lake, which is part of the Muskegon River watershed. Kathleen and Mike have a combined family of seven children and 10 grandchildren, all of whom float, hike, bike and/or fish in the Muskegon River and its tributaries.
Mike is retired from a national law practice with Barnes & Thornburg where he represented manufacturing, health care, educational and non- profit entities in labor and employment.
Mike graduated from, Calvin College, BA with honors, in 1971 and from the University of Michigan, JD cum laude, 1974.