Nathaniel Philip “Phil” Wardwell died on May 19th, 2024 at age 80.
Phil was born in Watertown, New York. He attended public schools in Watertown through the ninth grade, and graduated from The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and from Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Following law school, Phil entered the U.S. Army as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He served for 4 1/2 years on active duty, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and at Kagnew Station, Asmara, Ethiopia, where he tried courts-martial, advised the post commander, and served as Acting Staff Judge Advocate.
After being discharged from the Army, Phil was employed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as a Regional Attorney for the Watertown Region. He then was employed by the DEC as a litigation director and deputy division director at the DEC headquarters in Albany. During this time, he participated in the DEC’s groundbreaking lawsuit against General Electric Co. for pollution of the Hudson River with PCBs. This eventually led to designation of the lower Hudson as a Superfund site. Phil was also very active in cases involving the public right of navigation over freshwater rivers which had been used in the past for logging and other forms of commerce. At one point, he read every case in New York on the public right of navigation. This public right was ultimately vindicated in a decision by the New York State Court of Appeals.
Phil became a staff attorney with the New Mexico Environment Department in 1997, handling water and air cases. He then became a staff attorney with the Laboratory Counsel’s Office of Los Alamos National Laboratory. He encouraged staff to pursue soil and water conservation techniques to stabilize polluted soils and prevent contaminated runoff.
Following his retirement from the Laboratory in 2010, Phil and his wife Julie moved to Colorado, residing in Erie, Colorado. Phil became active in local movements to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by using solar and wind, and to use electric vehicles. He was a member of the Sierra Club, and supported their efforts reduce coal pollution.
Phil loved his visits to the Caribbean and to Hawaii with his family, and was interested in the environmental problems of those regions. He also enjoyed music, and sang with the Harvard Glee Club for four years, and with the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus for three years.
Phil married Julene “Julie” Marie Reudink Strauss in Watertown in 1984. He is survived by Julie, Erie, Colorado; his brother Edward Wardwell, Watertown, NY; and by children Kristalyn Larsen, Louisville, Colorado; Kimberly Dufraux, Louisville, Colorado; Melissa Cloninger, Mount Vernon, Washington; and Philip M. Wardwell, Oswego, NY; and by six grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Northern New York Community Foundation, Junior Division, Crescent Yacht Club.
The Heart is never ready, the time is never right to say good-bye.
Thinking of you with deepest sympathy
and hoping each new tomorrow will bring you comfort and peace <3
Julie, just learned of Phil’s passing. I remember him from Church & Boy Scouts, & family visits. Remember him as being a very nice, polite, smart person. Quiet mannered, like his Dad. And I remember you as well, very attractive. Mike was in my class. MY family and the Wardwell family go back for multiple generations. I’m in Henderson Harbor, should you or any membes of your family find their way back here, the door is always open.
Phil and I were Penn Law School classmates. I admired him very much. Perry Bruder