Founding board member
was NYLCV's first executive director

The New York League of Conservation Voters warmly remembers Clare Beckhardt, who passed away on June 5, at age 77. Mrs. Beckhardt was one of NYLCV's founding members, having served on its board of directors since its inception in 1989 and worked as the League's first executive director. She was also widely regarded for her passionate advocacy of parks and environmental education for young people.

Clare's work on conservation issues began after she moved to Manhattan's Upper West Side and noticed there were no trees on her block. She organized neighbors and led the charge to green her neighborhood, thereby setting in motion a long career dedicated to preserving our natural heritage.

In 1967, she became associate director for the Parks Council in New York City, where she provided advocacy assistance to community park groups and helped develop innovative park programs. Later, she worked for the New York State Charter Revision Commission, developing and producing the commission's parks and recreation studies on coterminality and decentralization.

From 1975-1988, Clare served as the New York City regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. She oversaw all of the state parks in the five boroughs, and was responsible for the creation of Riverbank State Park in Manhattan, Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, and the Clay Pit State Park and Nature Preserve on Staten Island.

In 1989, Clare helped create the New York League of Conservation Voters as a founding board member. She served, without pay, as the first executive director for two years and played a pivotal role in growing the organization's capacity and profile.

Clare's advocacy around environmental education was best known at the High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan, where she developed and administered an internship program for 9^th and 10^th grade students in the mid 1990s. She later became project director for the Nature Conservancy's New York City Region, developing a conservation internship program for inner-city high school seniors. Her program was implemented in each of the Nature Conservancy's five regions in New York state.

In addition to her work with NYLCV, Clare served on the boards of the Council on the Environment of New York City, the Friends of Roosevelt Island Landmarks, and the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan's Region II Advisory Committee. She was a graduate of Simmons College in Boston.

She is survived by her husband of over 50 years, Fred Beckhardt, as well as her children Seth, Meredith, Laurence and Aimee, and her grandchildren Molly, Deanna, Layla and Joshua.

In lieu of flowers, contributions should be made to either of the following organizations in Clare's name: Council on the Environment of New York City , 51 Chambers Street, Room 228, New York, NY 10007, or NYLCV, 30 Broad Street, Floor 30, New York, NY 10004.