Hackensack Riverkeeper

1000 River Road / T090C

Teaneck, NJ 07666

201-692-8440

201-692-8449 (FAX)

www.HackensackRiverkeeper.org

 

January 17, 2002

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contact: Captain Bill Sheehan

 

 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Becomes Hackensack Riverkeeper Trustee

Noted environmental attorney joins local Keeper Board

 

 

Teaneck, NJ – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has accepted an invitation to serve on the Board of Trustees of Hackensack Riverkeeper, the citizen-steward of the Hackensack River watershed..  Mr. Kennedy is an internationally-known environmentalist and author who is the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for Hudson Riverkeeper and who serves as President of the Waterkeeper Alliance, the organization that oversees more than eighty Keeper programs around the world.  “Having Bobby aboard is a real honor,” said Capt. Bill Sheehan, “the wealth of expertise and knowledge that he brings is amazing.”

 

Capt. Sheehan first met Mr. Kennedy in 1996 when the former was a volunteer with the NY/NJ Baykeeper Boating Auxiliary.  Upon listening to an update on Hackensack River and Meadowlands issues,  Mr. Kennedy turned to Baykeeper Andrew Willner and said, “It looks like the Hackensack has a Keeper.”  Two years later, Capt. Sheehan was named Hackensack Riverkeeper by the Alliance.  Since that time, he has appeared with Mr. Kennedy at various public events, most notably the 2000 Friends of the Hackensack River Awards Celebration at which Mr. Kennedy delivered the Keynote Address.

 

Mr. Kennedy’s invitation to join the Hackensack Riverkeeper Board was made by Board President Margaret Utzinger at the organization’s December 2001 meeting.  His official acceptance was received on January 15, 2002.  Also new to the Hackensack Riverkeeper Board are Ivan Kossak, a Certified Public Accountant from Lincoln Park, NJ who joins Mr. Kennedy as a Trustee and William J. Cahill, Esq. of Holmdel, NJ who has agreed to serve as Attorney to the Board.  “Each man brings tremendous talent and dedication to our organization,” said Capt. Sheehan, “Because of them Hackensack Riverkeeper is better equipped for its mission to preserve, protect and restore our watershed.”

 

Looming on the near horizon is the final battle over the proposed “Meadowlands Mills” mega-mall.  Should that battle move into litigation, Mr. Kennedy has already stated his intention to serve as the lead attorney on a blue ribbon legal team that would include Mr. Cahill as well as lead environmental attorneys from Columbia, Rutgers and Pace Universities.  In his new role as Hackensack Riverkeeper Trustee, Mr. Kennedy will find himself on the “front lines” in the battle to save the Meadowlands.  It is a position that the son of the late, beloved Senator relishes.

 

And from his home near the banks of the Hudson River Mr. Kennedy said, “When the Hackensack Meadowlands is finally protected it will be because of people like Bill Sheehan.”