The Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and was founded in 1985 by Bob Breen and Virginia Welch.

Bob Breen served as Fitzgerald Marine Reserve’s first Naturalist Ranger from the Reserve’s founding in 1969 to his retirement in 2004. Virginia Welch, who had worked as a volunteer for 20 years with the San Mateo Park system, became the first President of the Friends. At the time, she described the goals of the newly-formed organization as: “The protection and preservation of the Marine Reserve as a unique intertidal environment, and the promotion of educational activities for school children, residents, visitors and researchers, to see and touch many elements of a variety of wildlife ecosystems.”

Today, The Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve has 300 supporters and 75 trained Volunteer Naturalists.