New Tree to Honor an Old Friend

The Cobble Hill Association is happy to announce 4 new tree plantings in the neighborhood. Courtesy of the Cobble Hill Tree Fund, new Silver Linden trees have been placed in restored tree pits on both Warren Street and Congress Street. The Warren Street additions are near the corner of Court Street while the Congress Street addition is beside the Cobble Hill Health Center's newly landscaped perimeter.

We appreciate seeing all the new trees that keep our streets beautiful and our air clean, but we are most especially grateful to see the Silver Linden on Congress Street between Henry and Hicks. The Association made a request to plant this tree here in honor of our dearly departed friend, former Cobble Hill Association president Murray Adams. He offered tireless service to better the community and was especially focused on improving health care in Cobble Hill. With that in mind, we wanted to situate this new tree near the Cobble Hill Health Center, a source of remedy and rehab for so many lives in the neighborhood.

Hospital Saved and Renamed

Everyone in the Cobble Hill community knows how tirelessly our local advocates have been fighting to keep nearby Long Island College Hospital from shutting its doors. After many months of negotiations, and the immense help of elected officials, the unprecedented merger of LICH and Suny Downstate is complete. Cobble Hill Association president Roy Sloane first announced it at the recent Spring General Meeting, and yesterday it became official as the new sign went up introducing the new University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital.

For more detailed accounts of the merger, check out some of the local press coverage linked below. The CHA also wished to once again express our deepest gratitude to the late Murray Adams, a lion of an advocate, without whom this hospital saving merger would have never been possible.

Brooklyn Eagle Article
Brooklyn Paper Article
Carroll Gardens Patch Article

The Lion's Legacy

Photo By Judy Whitman

While several local articles went around last week announcing the unfortunate passing on one of Cobble Hill's most important civic leaders, Murray 'the Lion' Adams, just yesterday the Brooklyn Eagle published a more in depth review of Murray's many accolades.

Adams was an indefatigable community activist, and all who knew him assumed he would spend many more years advocating for the neighborhood... He was one of the founders of the [Cobble Hill Association] organization and served as president in the 1960s. Asked if he would classify himself as an urban pioneer, he insisted that pioneer was “too strong a word.”

To read the article in full, please click on Trudy Whitman's The Achievements of Murray Adams

In Remembrance

The Cobble Hill Association suffered a tremendous loss this week, with the loss of one its greatest leaders. CHA President Roy Sloane shared the following message.  
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With great sadness, we wish to mark the passing of C. Murray Adams.  Murray passed away peacefully yesterday at his beloved Long Island College Hospital, following complications of a brief illness.  He was the past president of the Cobble Hill Association and a member of our board, but, most importantly, a wonderful person, husband & father.

There are few individuals who have had the dedication and made the contributions to Cobble Hill that Murray has over the years. He played an integral part in shaping the neighborhood from one threatened by urban renewal and Atlantic Avenue becoming a state highway to one of Brooklyn's premier family neighborhoods. He did this through his intelligence, his charm and his tireless dedication to improving our institutions and our local political representation.

Murray was one of the founders of the Cobble Hill Association in the late 1950's and served as one of its first presidents. Our longest serving leader, he was president again from 2004 through 2008 and was still serving on our board at the time of his passing. Murray was also a member of the boards of Long Island College Hospital and the Cobble Hill Health Center and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund. He served as a legal adviser for the lawsuit to prohibit housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  In just the past two years, his vision, leadership, and skill as a citizen lobbyist helped make the SUNY Downstate/ LICH merger possible-- saving LICH and creating a powerful new health care resource in our borough.

 

A Memorial Service for Murray Adams will be held on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 3 PM at the Friends Meetinghouse, 110 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn (corner of Boerum Place).  Contributions in Murray’s memory may be made to the Long Island College Hospital and the Imani House Adult Literacy Program.