100 Gardens - Remembering Kevin Shank

September 26, 2017
Kevin C. Shank in the Miracle Garden on the Lower East side, Manhattan, 1987.

 

The AIDS Memorial quilt for Kevin Shank displayed in Washington, D.C.

 

A well-traveled plantsman with an extensive background in horticulture, Kevin C. Shank left his mark on the NYC community gardening scene. He served as GrowNYC’s Gardens Director from 1985-88, and was Vice Chairman of the Green Guerillas, with a heroic dedication towards revitalizing NYC through community gardening. After graduating from SUNY Delhi and Cornell University, Kevin was the Founding Horticulturist at the Pinkerton Garden for the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club in Manhattan. This intergenerational community garden included a state-of-the-art greenhouse and a rigorous after-school program for inner-city kids.  After this, Kevin moved on to the Group Live-In Experience Farms, which was the talk of the town in the late 80s in NYC. Growing and packaging fresh herbs for high-end restaurants in a state-of-the-art greenhouses in the South Bronx was unheard of then. Kevin went on to put his expert plantsmanship to good use in his final days as Senior Horticulturist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, on the Upper West Side. He will be forever remembered as one of the great contributors to the NYC community gardening community.

 

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This fall GrowNYC will build its 100th community garden. To celebrate, we are sharing stories from GrowNYC gardening history! 

But these stories are far from over

You can help ensure that all New Yorkers have access to green space by making a donation today to GrowNYC's New Garden Fund.

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