When asked to leave a shop or a restaurant, he normally does so without protest, said DeRuvo’s wife, Lini Ecker, a shoe-wearer. (On occasion, he said, he pushes back.) After years spent as a photographer and a photography teacher, he is still self-employed, now as a Pilates instructor, a particularly barefoot-friendly profession. And the couple stays close to home. When they go out, they gravitate toward mom-and-pop stores and restaurants where they can forge personal connections with owners and managers, and he can be seen as more than the guy with the feet.