“I am a freshwater environmentalist, almost totally self-taught, reading everything I can find and spending time with and learning more from many who know lots more than I do,” said Danni, who had a hand founding, leading, and participating in many water and environmental organizations in the Milwaukee area.
 

Danni pioneered education focused on freshwater in Milwaukee.  “I could not understand why no one was interested as it is so very important, so I organized a group of scientists, educators, politicians, boaters, environmentalists, and assorted other smart people who also loved water,” said Danni.  That group became the non-profit organization Great Lakes Future, which focused on education and stressed informed stewardship of our region’s most precious water resources.
 

“More than anyone else, Danni recognized the need to heighten our community’s awareness of our intimate relationship and dependence on the Great Lakes,” said Val Klump, Director of the Great Lakes WATER Institute and Associate Dean for Research at the School of Freshwater Sciences.  “Honestly, too often we take these magnificent inland seas for granted.   Danni doesn’t.   She never has and she never will.  Her efforts have blessed and benefited us all and I can’t thank her enough.”

 
The legacy of Danni’s efforts over the past two decades can be seen in one of Milwaukee’s modern, most iconic buildings.  Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin was formed through a collaboration and merger of Great Lakes Future, the Denis Sullivan organization which was building the boat at Milwaukee’s Municipal Pier, and Discovery World.  Today it houses in its round freshwater building the Great Lakes Future exhibit, an exact, satellite image, to scale model of the Great Lakes dedicated to Danni’s organization’s original purpose.
 

Danni, who at the end of 2011 retired from the Discovery World board, remains active within the Milwaukee water community.  She currently serves on the Board of the Urban Ecology Center, as co-chair of the Downtown Milwaukee Rotary Club’s environment/ecology committee, and on the education committee of the Milwaukee Water Council.  She has been a frequent donor first to the Great Lakes WATER Institute and now to the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences.
 

“I will never be your biggest contributor” she said, “but, certainly your most faithful, ardent friend.”
 

“With the fabulous addition of the School of Freshwater Sciences, it has become an even more exciting and remarkable opportunity for Milwaukee and our planet,” Danni said. “As for the students who are just beginning to delve into the amazing world of water, it should and will be the most exciting, fascinating, creative, and important work on our planet.”