Occupation: I am owner of R.T. Eckenrode Design LLC, a residential home design business for remodeling and new construction serving architects, builders, and homeowners with a “see it before you build it” approach to every project using 3D Chief Architect software.

Family: My loving wife Sheila Dalton and I have been married since 1984. We met as lab partners while attending the University of Bridgeport in 1976. She is a health care consultant specializing in organizational improvement and national health care policy. We have two wonderful children, Kaelyn and Robert. Both are proud graduates of Newtown High. Kaelyn is married and is a freelance journalist, media producer, yoga instructor, and mother of a 2-year-old boy. Robert is newly engaged to Amy Metheny and is currently an arborist and forester having earned his master’s degree from West Virginia University and is working as an environmental consultant in West Virginia.

Pets: We have Josie the rescue dog — a shepherd/husky mix — and black identical pussycat sisters, Shadow and Sassy.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We moved to Newtown in 1989 to the end of a dirt road that’s now paved.

What do you like to do in your free time? I enjoy the outdoors, being an active member of the Newtown Forest Association, and visiting/managing some of the wildest places here in Newtown. I also love getting together with friends and playing original music, which I do on a regular basis. This, along with a love of nature, photography, good food, attending the occasional happy hour, and seeing live bands locally, round it out.

What organizations are you part of in Newtown? I am a board member of the Newtown Forest Association and recently stepped aside as president after 15 years. With new leadership, it continues to be an honor to work with the NFA in conserving open spaces for wildlife, native plants, forests, water courses, and passive recreation. We all shared the award being nationally recognized as the best all-volunteer land trust in the nation by The Land Trust Alliance in 2018. I am proud to be a founding member and NFA ambassador of H2H, a regional land conservation partnership representing over 22 towns and organizations from the Hudson River in New York to the Housatonic River here in Connecticut. It’s been a fantastic journey in land conservation for me that started in my own backyard as a participant of UConn’s Coverts Project in 1996.

Do you have a favorite book? The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben is the current one.

What is your favorite travel destination? We have been fortunate to have experienced lots of places, but Iceland was like being on a National Geographic special and like no other place on earth.

What is the best part about Newtown? It’s about people sharing their kindness and passion with others. We are fortunate to have so many natural resources with trails, forests, streams, and meadows right here in town to experience while hiking, biking, or just taking a simple walk in the woods.

How can Newtown improve? I think engaging folks of all ages with various challenges, along with local groups, and giving them the chance to experience the wonders of the natural world around us. The restorative values of using these wild places are the perfect prescription for a life well lived within our community.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? My dad, Robert T. Eckenrode, who passed at the young age of 54. He instilled in us the importance of leading by example, and “Your integrity is who you are, and no one can take that away from you. You have to give it away...”

If you could spend the day with one person, who would you choose and why? I would have to say my dad, just to share with him the joys of a good marriage, my children, and my own grandfatherhood.

Who is your favorite musical artist? Drummers Ginger Baker and Thierry Arpino and guitarist Charlie Hunter.

What is the greatest piece of advice you have ever been given? “Sharing your gifts with others makes the world a better place.”

What is something you cannot live without? An evening with the wood stove blazing, great food and drink, followed by sharing a good movie on Netflix.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Sharing my passion for things that I feel are important and making a difference. I am most proud of being able to work with a small group of dedicated people in getting big things done.