George Hartzog “the greatest director in the history of the” National Park Service dies at 88 New York Times
. . . During his tenure Mr. Hartzog oversaw the acquisition of 72 sites, amounting to 2.7 million acres. The list went beyond national parks to include recreation areas, seashores, river ways and historical monuments.
“He was an empire builder,” Robert M. Utley, a former Park Service historian, said in an interview on Tuesday. Besides Stephen T. Mather and Horace M. Albright, the agency’s founders, Mr. Utley added, “I judge George Hartzog the greatest director in the history of the service.”
Mr. Hartzog directed, among other projects, the creation of the Gateway National Recreation Area, with its 26,607 acres of dunes, marsh islands and beaches by the bays of New York’s metropolitan area, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area on San Francisco Bay. They were the first urban national parklands outside Washington. . . .
As parks director Mr. Hartzog pushed for the advancement of members of minorities. He appointed the first African-American park superintendent, the first female superintendent, the first American Indian superintendent and the first African-American chief of the Park Service police.
He made a priority of bringing the national system into urban areas, and started programs like Bring Parks to the People and Summer in the Parks.
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