News

Plan for Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park is Topic of Program at William Paterson University on October 31

The evolving Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, and its connection to the city’s future, will be explored during a program, “The Future of Paterson’s Past: What Can a National Park Do?” on Sunday, October 31, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the Cheng Library Auditorium at William Paterson University in Wayne. Admission is free and open to the public. The program is sponsored by the Friends of the Cheng Library at William Paterson University.

Leonard A. Zax, president of the Hamilton Partnership for Paterson, and Bill Bolger, project manager for the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, will discuss the unique challenges and promises of the Park, which will preserve and interpret artifacts from Paterson’s historic past, beginning in the late 1700s as an industrial dynamo to the present day as a manufacturing and labor center. They will also examine what recognition as a national park will mean for the Great Falls and the city of Paterson, as well as how people can help shape the future of the city.

Zax is a native of Paterson who graduated from Eastside High School in 1967. He has had a distinguished career forging public/private partnerships for community development and historic preservation projects in large and small cities throughout the United States. Long active in the historic preservation movement, Zax has served as a trustee of the D.C. Preservation League and has done pro bono work for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He also has served as a member of the ULI Advisory Program panel assisting the Rebuild New Orleans Commission in the aftermath of Katrina. Until July 2008, Zax was a partner in the Washington office of the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he was head of the real estate practice. Most of his work involved public/private partnerships for community development and historic preservation. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Zax earned both a master’s degree in city planning and a juris doctor from Harvard University, where he has served as a lecturer in urban planning. He received an honorary doctor of humane letters from William Paterson University in May 2009.

Bolger is a 26-year veteran of the National Park Service and has extensive experience with historic properties, ranging from small eighteenth century houses to large twentieth century industrial complexes. He joined the National Park Service in 1983, reviewing rehabilitation projects under the historic preservation tax incentives program in 17 states. In 1995, he became manager of the National Historic Landmarks program for the Northeast Region, advising on the eligibility of properties to become National Historic Landmarks, monitoring the condition of more than 1,200 National Historic Landmarks in the region, and providing technical assistance for the preservation of historic resources. A graduate of Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in art and architectural history, he has studied historic preservation at Columbia University.

For additional information, please call the Cheng Library at William Paterson University at 973-720-2113 or visit the website at www.wpunj.edu/friends.

 

# # #

 

wpunj.edu

09/28/10