Ryan Rummens Waterman

Ryan Rummens Waterman passed away after a yearlong battle with cancer on February 9, 2026, with family and friends at his side. Ryan was born November 17, 1973, in Davis, CA, and graduated from Davis High School in 1991. After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with double majors in finance and history, he began what would be a lifelong commitment to service with his first full-time job at non-profit Self-Help Enterprises in Visalia, CA.

Ryan was not, however, done with school, nor with getting two degrees when one would have done perfectly well. He earned a JD from University of California Berkeley’s School of Law and a Master’s of City Planning from UC Berkeley in 2003. While in Berkeley, he met his future wife, Julia, on a city bus, and they were married on August 25, 2002.

After two years working as a clerk for Federal Judge Jeanne E. Scott, Ryan began his environmental law career in earnest in San Diego at Latham and Watkins. He also worked at Stoel Rives before becoming a shareholder in the Natural Resources Department of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he would work for the rest of his career. Ryan’s legal practice meant a great deal to him, and he continued working full-time even through cancer treatment. He often spoke of the “shower test”—that your work should be meaningful enough that every morning you were grateful and excited to get started. Ryan’s work included California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) issues; renewable energy projects in wind, solar, and battery storage; and land use, water quality, and hazardous substances matters. He started a successful quarterly newsletter called CEQA News You Can Use to help inform other attorneys and clients. He was committed to pro bono work and was very proud to be part of the team that received Brownstein’s Jeffrey S. Rugg Pro Bono Award in 2025 for their work helping victims of human trafficking. He was also recognized by the San Diego Business Journal with the 2024 Leaders of Influence in Law Award and named a Thomson Reuters “Stand-out Lawyer.”

Ryan was a lifelong supporter of mentoring, particularly through the organization Big Brothers Big Sisters. He first became a Big Brother to Daniel in 1996 and later became a Big Brother to Paris, Garrett, and Marvin, creating lifelong relationships he treasured. Ryan served on the Board of Directors for San Diego’s BBBS chapter since 2009, including as chair from 2022-2023. In 2025 he was named Big Champion, the organization’s highest award.

He loved playing soccer, hiking, and camping. He and Kate enjoyed monthly camping with Adventure Guides, and he took both boys on many epic camping experiences, yielding a great deal of family lore. His favorite place in the world was the family cabin in Bucks Lake, CA. Recently, he discovered a love of and affinity for baking, and in his spare time he knocked out not one but two novels, which even his editor wife admits are pretty good despite his predilection for punning. He was an extraordinarily good friend, but his greatest joy was spending time with his family: Julia, Ben (19), Luke (15), and Kate (10). He coached Luke and Kate in their younger soccer years, but he mostly was a source of unwavering support and enthusiasm from the sidelines of soccer and baseball fields, tracks and cross country courses, cheering for not just his own kids but everyone else’s too.

Those left to honor his memory include his wife, Julia; their children, Ben, Luke, and Kate; his mother, Donna Waterman of Davis, CA; his sister and brother-in-law, Darlene and Dean Oertle of Quincy, CA; his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Neal and Marilyn Roller of Godfrey, IL; and his brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nieces, Joel, Karen, Audrey, Eleanor, and Alice Weststrate of Kirkwood, MO. He was preceded in death by his father, Dug Waterman. A celebration of life service will take place at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church on March 21 at 10:30 am, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego.