Pictured: Bart Lowther (left) of Mariash Lowther Wealth Management with Neil Lyons of Luhrsen Goldberg Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

Each year, SRQ Media invites the community to nominate individuals with hearts of giving who have made a significant impact with local nonprofit organizations — from volunteers and board members to individual staff members and donors. Tuesday, December 5, attendees happily joined together to recognize our annual Good Hero Philanthropic Award recipients at the SB2: Philanthropic Agenda and Good Hero Awards Luncheon at Michael’s on East in Sarasota. We are delighted to feature each of the twelve honorees in our Wednesday Philanthropic edition of SRQ Daily.

Today we are recognizing Neil Lyons, Associate with Luhrsen Goldberg. Neil is an attorney whose dedication to serving the underprivileged is deeply personal and is inspired by his father, who served in the Navy for twenty-five years, and his father-in-law, who spent the last twelve years of his medical career working for the health department in Sarasota. He has selflessly served the elderly, homeless and indigent members of our community on a pro-bono basis throughout his career and founded the Sarasota County Bar Association’s Access to Justice Task Force to coordinate pro bono work among SCBA members, legal aid organizations, and the court system. Through this work he was able to obtain commitments from more than twenty-five attorneys to partner with this task force. Neil started his pro bono service by volunteering hundreds of hours for Gulf Coast Legal Services where he represented indigent clients. He accepted court appointments of indigent wards in guardianship matters in lieu of being compensated through the Judicial Administrative Commission and contributed more than one hundred hours of pro bono service to indigent clients in 2015. He has volunteered to handle multiple cases for Legal Aid of Manasota and their “No Place Like Home” project. He worked with Sarasota County’s Homeless Outreach Team and personally represented several guardians helping homeless individuals get back on their feet. In 2014, he provided over sixty hours of pro bono service. In 2015 and 2016, he donated over 100 hours each year. He provided more than 125 hours in 2018 and over 100 in 2019. Between 2014 and 2023, Mr. Lyons provided more than 1,000 hours of pro bono representation. The number of hours Mr. Lyons dedicates to pro bono service on top of his private firm obligations is truly awe-inspiring. Congratulations Neil!

Pictured: Bart Lowther (left) of Mariash Lowther Wealth Management with Neil Lyons of Luhrsen Goldberg Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.