Origins — Paskowitz Foundation

Paskowitz Foundation

We are a team of passionate and highly motivated people from all over the world - a community that cares about the health and conservation of the ocean first and foremost.

every drop counts

Our missions, programs and campaigns take place on a worldwide scale focusing on Earth’s most precious resource at every stage - from rivers and streams, to coastlines and the deepest parts of the oceans. We understand that change happens at every level - educating the next generations, cleaning up the current problems and changing the policies and methods of governments and industries at the top of our economies; there is need for improvement in the way we live as individuals around the world and as collective cultures, nations and civilizations.

protect what you love

For us, it’s simple. We believe that people protect what they love. It’s the basic foundation that we come back to over and over again when it comes to working towards change in a person or group of people’s behavior and choices. Our efforts are founded in the idea that if we can inspire a love for the ocean in our audiences - whether new or deeper than before - then their motivation to change their own behaviors is honest and driven from within rather than an external obligation or guilt.

the origin story of the Paskowitz Family

The Paskowitzes are a family of non-stop adventurers and explorers, with legendary ties to the ocean through our surfing patriarch, Doc Paskowitz. Today, they are teaching their kids by creating a life in and around the ocean, and exploring the world’s wildest places. They have developed a deep sense of responsibility to protect our natural aquatic environments. They regularly clean up beaches, waterways, and communicate their commitment and passion to those they meet. They want to share what they’ve learned along the way and provide pathways for action, so everyone can make a difference.

“Go to sea; the sea needs you more than you need it”

Paskowitz Foundation is rooted in a legacy of living life sustained by the ocean, family adventures and humanitarianism. Dorian ‘Doc’ Paskowitz, our patriarch, started this legacy which we are living today and sharing with the world.

It all began after Dr. Dorian Paskowitz left his life as a doctor in Hawaii in pursuit of a meaningful life. Together with his incredible wife Juliette they created a family of 9 children and their camper van, traveling for decades around the world in search of the perfect waves, giving back to and working in communities who needed a doctor and living as simply as possible with his family. The Paskowitzes were truly the original adventurous traveling ocean family.

Adam, the sixth of Dorian & Juliette’s nine kids, chose to continue the lifestyle of adventure with his own wife, Tracey, and kids, passing down the intense love for the ocean which has guided his whole life - “the only home he’s ever known.”

After the birth of Adam and Tracey’s second child, they moved with son Doc and baby girl Ffanci onto a Mason sailboat where they spent years on the coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico. Then they traveled by Nordhavn powerboat from the coast of California, heading West two-thirds around the world. These travels by boat are the foundation of their family’s experiences in the ocean- surfing, diving, adventuring and seeing firsthand humankind’s impact on the ocean and ocean communities in the farthest reaches of the world. Seeing the “plastic soup” of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the pale and barren reefs, and the depleted food supply in island nations from the worldwide fishing industry left an emotional impact on the Paskowitzes so great that they knew they needed to take action on a big scale. From here, they founded the Paskowitz Foundation.

Now, with two more kids in tow (Solomon and Ezra), the Paskowitz Family is taking on the challenges threatening the ocean and its communities through hands-on action, education and inspiring adventures.