Cy A Adler

Cy A Adler (b. Cyrus Adler, Brooklyn, NY,[1] 1927-September 27, 2018)[2] was an author, organizer and conservationist, known for his work over the course of several decades in raising awareness for shoreline issues in and around New York City, United States, and especially for his early work on the initiative that would result in the creation of The Great Saunter, an annual walk which goes through Hudson River Park, Riverside Park, East River Park, and some 20 other parks around the island of Manhattan. For his efforts to see to completion a park stretching almost the entire circumference of the Hudson River shore of the island of Manhattan, Adler was recognized by mayors of New York City including Bill deBlasio and Michael Bloomberg, and Borough Presidents of Manhattan including Scott Stringer, Ruth Messinger, and Gale Brewer, as well New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, and former US Senator Hillary Clinton.[3][4]

Cy A. Adler's signature

Trained as a Mathematician and Oceanographer, Adler taught physics at the City College of New York and oceanography at SUNY Maritime and Long Island University. He contributed to several scholarly publications in his field in the 1960s and 1970s, but his environmental advocacy work began in earnest after the 1973 publication of his first book, Ecological Fantasies - Death From Falling Watermelons: A Defense of Innovation, Science, and Rational Approaches to Environmental Problems,[5] which had grown out of a series of somewhat contentious debates on environmental policy published in Science and The Village Voice in May and November 1972.[6][7] By the late-1970s Adler's articles on shoreline issues had appeared in The Village Voice, as well as other local papers including The New York Times and Newsday. His science-based letters and articles appeared in the American Journal of Physics (January 1958), Undersea Technology (August 1968), Journal of Ocean Technology V.2 No.1 (1967), Science and Technology (October 1969), The Wall Street Journal (February 1971), Marine Engineering Log (March 1971), American Fish Farmer (August 1972), Science (November 1972), etc.

In early December, 1982, Adler placed an ad in the Voice announcing a public walk along the Hudson River from Battery Park to Riverside Park, which at the time consisted largely of docking facilities abandoned due to Containerization. The walk, which served to raise awareness of the disused and inaccessible shoreline, became an annual event, and came to become known as The Great Saunter, eventually constituting a complete shoreline circumnavigation of the island of Manhattan. This walk developed into a non-profit group, Shorewalkers. Established in 1982 the organization was incorporated in 1984. Cy A was president of Shorewalkers until October 2017, when he resigned to devote more time to his civic, literary and municipal projects.

[8][9][10][11][12][13]

In 1984 Adler wrote an article published in The New York Times, advocating a public shoreline path from the river's mouth at Battery Park to the river's source, Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains.[14] Adler's book, Walking The Hudson, Batt to Bear (From the Battery to Bear Mountain) detailed the route, as of 1997, as far as Bear Mountain (Hudson Highlands). A second edition, published by W. W. Norton & Company updated the route for 2012. The book contains an introduction by folksinger Pete Seeger, a member of Shorewalkers and friend of Adler.[15][16]

Adler organized several New York State corporations. In 1972, he organized and was CEO of Offshore Sea Development Corp. He and his associates developed systems for offloading oil tankers and bi-valve aquaculture techniques. He earned several patents, including one for a Single-Point Mooring, U. S. patent number 3.756.293.

Under various pseudonyms, Adler wrote and produced several other works. One of these was "Wholly Mother Jones," a play with music about the extraordinary labor organizer, Mary Harris Jones. It has been produced at least three times at the Brecht Forum and the People's Voice Cafe. Another book was "The Queer Dutchman - Castaway on Ascension," which went through two editions at Greeneagle Press. He also wrote "Crazy to go to Sea," a memoir of his time working in the Norwegian Merchant Marine in the 1950s.

With Pete Seeger, Adler wrote lyrics to several songs, including "Hurrah, Hurray for the NRA," a song related to gun violence, and the Shorewalkers Saunter song. He also developed the album, "No Job, No Bread? Sing a Jolly Song!"

His humanist cantata The Turtles Mass[17] premiered on Earth Day, 22 April 2018.

References
  1. Mao, Tien (2006-05-05). "Cyrus Adler, president of Shorewalkers, Inc". Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. "Remembering Cy Adler". Shorewalkers. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. Albert Amateau, "Great Saunter will be stepping off Saturday for a 32-mile walk," The Villager Volume 75, Number 50, May 3–9, 2006.
  4. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Great Saunter Address, 42nd Street Pier, New York City, May 6, 2010.
  5. "BOOKS | Green Eagle Enterprises".
  6. Adler, Cy A. (1973) Ecological Fantasies: A Defense of Innovation, Science, and Rational Approaches to Environmental Problems. New York, Dell. ISBN 978-0914018025. Front Matter.
  7. Harold W. Kohn, Book Review of Ecological Fantasies. Journal of Chemical Education, 1974, 51 (7), p. A375. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed051pA375.2
  8. Shorewalkers' 25th Anniversary: History and Achievements, New York, Shorewalkers Inc., 2007.
  9. Tien Mao, "Interview with Cyrus Adler," President of Shorewalkers, Inc., The Gothamist, March 5, 2006. "Cyrus Adler, president of Shorewalkers, Inc". Archived from the original on 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  10. David G. Allen, "Circling Manhattan (Bring Extra Socks)," The New York Times, September 17, 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/nyregion/19circ.html
  11. Albert Amateau, 'Saunterer' Sits Down to Write About the Feat, The Villager, Volume 73, Number 13, July 30 - Aug. 5, 2003. http://www.thevillager.com/villager-14/saunterersitsdown.html Archived 2006-03-21 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Clem Richardson, "Shorewalkers founder Cy Adler 'shore' is serious about city saunters" New York Daily News, August 17, 2008. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-08-17/local/17903496_1_health-benefits-staten-island-lot
  13. Lea Winerman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "See a different side of New York by walking along shorelines," January 01, 2012. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12001/1200119-37-0.stm
  14. Adler, Cy A., "For Hudsonophiles, a Long, Long Trail," The New York Times, September 1, 1984.
  15. Adler, Cy A., Walking the Hudson from the Battery to Bear Mountain, New York, Norton, 2012. ISBN 978-0-88150-946-5. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=22492
  16. Pete Seeger talking about Shorewalkers and playing music with Cy Adler, May 18, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1i80uYykug
  17. "The Turtles Mass | Green Eagle Enterprises". greeneagle.org. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
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