Susan Gordon joins the HRI Board of Trustees

 

By Jared Eudell

The term “environmentally active” barely begins to define this Green Thumb.  Susan Gordon comes to Hackensack Riverkeeper with a passion for the outdoors and years of conservation experience from her participation in eminent environmental organizations. For the past five years, she has been a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), the seven-member council created by the New Jersey legislature to advise on the management, maintenance and utilization of the New Jersey section of the Palisades Interstate Park.  As a six-year member of the Tenafly Environmental Commission she assisted in the production of a recent Environmental Impact Resource Inventory List, which includes a list of municipal open spaces, a wildlife survey, and a description of water resources.  She has also been Trustees for both the Flat Rock Brook Nature Center in Englewood and Tenafly Nature Center and has served as the Conservation Chair for the twelve New Jersey Clubs of the Garden Club of America (GCA).

It is her conservation involvement with the GCA that brought her to Hackensack Riverkeeper.  As a long time supporter of preserving the Meadowlands, when she heard the murmur of Mills (the developer of the Mega Mall) circulating through the community about five years ago, she gave Capt. Bill a call to find out more.  “What impressed me about Bill and the organization was that he spent 45 minutes explaining the issues to a stranger who phoned him out of the blue,” says Susan.  Shortly afterwards, Susan accompanied Capt. Bill on an Eco-Cruise through the Meadowlands, arranged for the CAC to tour the Meadowlands and encouraged several other Garden Clubs to book Eco-Cruises.

In May 2001, Capt. Bill was invited to speak at the Englewood Garden Club at a Meadowlands exhibit where Susan and Bill exchanged pleasantries.  “It was becoming clear that Susan was interested in the [Meadowlands] process and was following the work of Hackensack Riverkeeper,” said Capt. Bill.

In June of this year, Capt. Bill was presented with a conservation award from the GCA for “his dedicated and inspiring commitment to preserve and protect the remaining Hackensack Meadowlands for future generations.”  At that ceremony, Susan and Capt. Bill had another discussion.  Soon after, Capt. Bill, on behalf of the HRI Board of Trustees, asked Susan to join the Board and all were delighted when she accepted.

Susan is a graduate of Wellesley College and did her graduate work in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU.  She was an art book editor at McGraw-Hill, but for 15-years, she has operated her own antique business, Susan Flynn Gordon, Inc., which specializes in Japanese woodblock prints.  Her husband, Stephen, is a partner with the environmental law firm of Beveridge and Diamond and enjoys hunting and fishing in Schoharie County, NY.  Their two grown children, Alexandra and John, live in New York.  Susan and Stephen reside in Tenafly and share interests in traveling, hiking and skiing in Vermont.