Irving Cantor, 2017

Irving Cantor died on June 10, 2017, at the age of 97. He is survived by his wife Jean.

Irving was a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of New York and, according to the editor of the News-Letter, a member since 1940. He was the last of the Bronx County Boys.

Irving surprised me by signing up for our Rio Grande Valley Festival birding trip for the Linnaean Society in 2006. Later he went with us to Northern California and after that Laurie and I took him to Argentina for a couple of weeks of birding in 2010. Two weeks of hard travel was almost too much for Irving at that time, but he insisted on the second week so we could go to Argentine Patagonia, where we finally saw the Magellanic Woodpecker. As always, he flew first class.

Sometime after that, Irving asked me to join him on the Audit Committee of the New York State Ornithological Association. Irving had chaired the committee for many years, and I think he saw he was coming to the end of it.

When Irving and Jean moved from East 32nd Street to North End Avenue—I think it was around 2010—Irving gave up Central Park birding, which he had begun to find unrewarding anyway, and he made it his business to know all about the birds in Nelson A. Rockefeller Park—he knew how many Robins, and how many Double-crested Cormorants, were present virtually every day for several years. We would have lunch every month or so and in spring and fall I would take my binoculars along and we would spend an hour and a half in that little park.

A side of Irving not well known in the birding community was his interest in financial matters. He was a registered stockbroker, as well as an accountant, and we talked at length about investments. Another side, better known to everyone who knew him—he did not like food.

I never knew exactly how many birds Irving had seen. I don’t think he knew either. He wasn’t that kind of birder (I am that kind of birder). He kept meticulous records; he liked to see birds and keep track. In an article in the Linnaean News-Letter in 2015, Irving wrote about Central Park birding,

“It was four years before I saw my first American Crow in the Park and almost six years before the first Red-tailed Hawk. The Park also bore witness to population shifts in our common water birds over those eight decades [1935-2015]. Some examples: Buffleheads unknown; Ruddy Ducks and Northern Shovelers – very rare; Great and Snowy Egrets – unknown; Double-crested Cormorants – accidental; Great Black-backed and Ring-billed Gulls – rare; and Laughing Gulls were common transients.”

We will miss his careful reporting. We will miss Irving’s good sense, generosity, and frequent indignation. We will miss our friend. — John Cairns, Former President, Linnaean Society of New York

Chandler Robbins, 1918-2017

Chandler Robbins, an Eisenmann Medalist (July 17, 1918 – March 20, 2017) of Laurel, Maryland. 

Ornithologist and birding legend Chandler S. Robbins died at the age of 98. Birders are probably most familiar with Chandler Robbins as the author (with Bertel Bruun and Herbert Zim) of the groundbreaking “Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification”, illustrated by Arthur Singer, published in 1966 – often called by birders, the “Singer Guide” or the “Golden Guide”. Chan joined the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist in 1945 and retired in 2005 from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel Maryland, after sixty years with the Service. He organized and for decades ran the annual North American Breeding Bird Survey. He was also an active bird bander and in 1956 banded a Laysan Albatross on Midway Island in the Pacific that has come to be nicknamed “Wisdom”. The albatross is now the oldest banded wild bird in the world and in 2017 was still nesting on Midway. Since the bird was an adult when it was banded, it is at least 66 years old. Chan was awarded the Eisenmann Medal by the Linnaean Society of New York in 1987 for “excellence in ornithology and encouragement of the amateur”. Since Chan was based in Maryland for most of his career, many New York birders may not have known him personally, but all have been influenced by his life and work, whether they knew him or not. Those who had the fortune to meet him know what a great person he was. A true legend. — Joseph DiCostanzo  

Chandler Robbins, friend to birds and birdwatchers, dies at 98, Washington Post 3/23/2017
Chandler Robbins, Wikipedia

Sarah Elliott, 2016

It is with sadness that I let you know that our friend Sarah Elliott passed away on October 12th. Sarah was a longtime member of the Linnaean Society of New York. She led nature walks in Central Park and elsewhere, and maintained the bird sighting book in the Boathouse. She regularly issued an informative series of Nature Notes. In addition to her passion for birds and botany, Sarah was keenly interested in literature and jazz. For the last year Sarah was cared for by her niece Dukeanna.  — Andrew Rubenfeld, President

A sample of Sarah Elliott’s Nature Notes from 1995, 1999 and 2004 (PDF)

Jeff Nulle, 2016

Geoffrey James Nulle, 71, son of the late Richard and Claire Couch Nulle, died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home on August 23, 2016. He is survived by brothers David, Bruce, Gregory, and niece Alexandra Duemer. Jeff was a graduate of Ithaca High School, Cornell, and Columbia University. 

Jeff taught English at Manhattan Community College and Farleigh Dickinson University and was employed at Davis-Polk law firm for many years.

Jeff was a lifelong birding enthusiast and mentor, a conservation activist, past president of the Linnaean Society of New York. He helped establish the bird sanctuary at Riverside Park in Manhattan. He loved the city and knew its hidden gems.

Jeff was an avid student of art and literature, an entertaining storyteller deeply interested in the life stories of others, a man of integrity who spoke his mind in thoughtful ways.

A memorial service for Jeff was held on Saturday, October 8th at Volunteer House at 107th Street in Riverside Park, followed by a walk through the bird sanctuary. The service was at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Ithaca, New York on October 15th. Donations in Jeff’s memory may be made to the Riverside Park Conservancy at www.riversideparknyc.org. — Gregory Nulle, Brother of Jeff Nulle

Geoffrey Nulle, former president of the Linnaean Society of New York, passed away at his home in Manhattan August 23. He had had recent surgery. The cause of death was a heart attack.

Jeff also served as LSNY vice president and council member. As chair of the conservation committee he was instrumental in blocking plans for a major bicycle path through Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Jeff will be best remembered for his work in establishing a 10-acre designated bird sanctuary in Riverside Park, as well as his tireless management of the park’s famous “drip.” He also did volunteer work at the Great Gull Island office at the American Museum of Natural History. — Andrew Rubenfeld, President

Vivienne Sokol, 2016

Dear Fellow Members,
Vivienne Sokol, a local wildlife rehabilitator and Linnaean Society of New York member since 2009, passed away in July. — Andrew Rubenfeld, President

It is with a heavy heart that I write of Vivienne Sokol, who peacefully passed away on July 10th, 2016. Ms. Sokol was exemplary in her field, one of the very few federal and state licensed Wild Bird Rehabilitators in New York City for close to 40 years. The wealth of knowledge that she shared and those that she mentored, as well as the birds that were rehabilitated under her meticulous care throughout the years, have experienced a great loss. Her memory honors all she touched and the ornithological world she proudly nurtured and represented. Thank you kindly. — Sonia Acevedo, Training Coordinator and Senior Veterinary Technician at the Hunter College Animal Research Facility

Adam Purple and the Garden of Eden

On September 14th while bicycling into Manhattan on the Williamsburg bridge, 84-year-old David Lloyd Wilkie, aka Adam Purple, suffered a fatal heart attack. A unique N.Y.C. character and urban legend was lost when Adam Purple died.

Born in Independence, Missouri, and a graduate of the University of Missouri with a master’s degree in journalism, Adam Purple then worked his way across the country, teaching high school in Missouri and as a Newspaper reporter in New Jersey. In 1968 he came to New York and the Lower Eastside.

In 1973 as the neighborhood disintegrated about him, he looked upon an empty lot of broken bricks and saw a garden. Here, he would remake himself as the “Guerilla Gardener” and take on the persona of Adam Purple. Adam and his partner Eve began clearing the lot with only hand tools. Adam considered machinery “counter revolutionary.”

Adam and Eve dressed in purple tie dyed clothes. They soon became a regular sight, riding their purple bikes around together and going back and forth to Central Park where they would collect horse manure for their “Garden of Eden.” The garden was constructed out of concentric circles of stone walls that enclosed 15K square feet of flowering bushes, fruit trees and vegetables. There were black berries, strawberries, cucumbers and corn. Eight walnut trees were among the forty-five trees in the garden. All grown for the benefit of the community. This was truly a “paradise” (the Persian word for garden) in a waste land. 

On a cold and grey day in January 8th 1986 Eden came to an end. This was after a long and protracted effort to get the city to incorporate the garden into a scheme to build low income housing came to naught. A bull dozer arrived and set to work, neither the stone walls or walnut trees could resist. In a day the garden, that took over a decade to create, was obliterated. 

Adam never really recovered. This may have even led to his separation with the now mother of his Daughter. What Adam Purple had pioneered vest-pocket parks on vacant land, and these parks have now been reproduced many times over in every borough of this city as “Community Gardens.” 

Just in the East Village there are over forty gardens of various sizes. Most of these gardens are open to the general public. In addition to bringing contentment to the human soul, each of these little patches of green are like an oasis’s in a concrete desert to migrating birds. 

Next Spring, take a walk in the East Village and Lower Eastside. In addition to the trendy new eateries and boutiques, you will be pleasantly surprised by these little Edens. And while strolling between the tomato vines and sun flowers and perhaps hearing the chatter of a Mockingbird or a Towhee’s “drink your tea,” give a thought to Adam Purple, who looked upon rubble and saw a garden. 

— By Marc Felix of www.marcvillagewalk.com and Linnaean Society of NY member

Farida Wiley, 1887-1986

Paul Sweet tweeted on 5/8/2019 that that his predecessor as American Museum of Natural History bird tour leader was Farida Wiley (1887-1986), an amazing woman in science who worked at the museum for 60 years. She was also a member of The Linnaean Society of New York.

Links to her interesting and detailed obituaries:

• Washington Post
• New York Times