Three Obituaries
Bernard J. Albin
Bernard J. Albin, who was chairman of Orangetown’s Architecture and Community Appearance Board of Review (“ACABOR”) from nearly its inception in 1965 until 2005, has died in Oro Valley Arizona of natural causes. He was 85.
“Bernie,” as he was known to his friends and colleagues, and “Bud,” as he was known to his family, was born in Jersey City in 1928. He attended Syracuse University and received a degree in landscape architecture. He established a practice in New York City and worked on numerous regional projects, including the landscaping and design for the new Palisades Interstate Parkway in the 1950s. He and his wife Eraine, an interior designer, moved to Palisades where he became active in community affairs. Local residents commissioned him to design Tappan’s Memorial Park in 1966 after their successful fight to prevent it from becoming a housing development.
Shortly thereafter he was elected by his colleagues on the newly formed ACABOR to become its chairman, a position he held continuously for almost forty years. Under his guidance, ACABOR worked in partnership with developers and new businesses in a quickly expanding Orangetown to ensure that the fundamental character of the town remained constant. The Board won awards for its treatment of public spaces, including IBM Palisades (by relocating the buildings and parking areas away from Route 9W) Blue Hill Plaza (reducing the scale of the original proposal from three high rises to one and reducing its parking by half) and the Pearl River Hilton (preserving the existing woodland area along Veterans Memorial Highway). “In the last 50 years, possibly no person had a more profound positive impact on the development of the Town of Orangetown than Bud Albin,” said his nephew Thom Kleiner of Sparkill, a former Supervisor of Orangetown. In 2005 he settled permanently in Arizona. Other than Thom Kleiner, he is survived by his sister Marlene Kleiner of Grandview and his nephew Eric Kleiner of Nyack.
Ronnie Estadella
Ronnie Estadella, who lived with her family on Woods Road for many years, died in Southampton, NY on January 31 after losing a long battle with hreast cancer. Her family wrote, “Ronnie’s strength, kindness and love to all will continue to inspire us as long as we live. She is survived by Antonio, her husband of 37 years; her son, Gabriel; her daughters, Emily and Mia; her step-daughter Cristina and son-in-law Emmett; her grandchildren Luke and Frankie; her mother, Ruth; her brother, Harvey, and sister-in-law, Barbara, and nephew, Jessie, and niece, Dana. She taught us how to live with courage and grace, and will be loved and missed, always.”
John W. Fawcett
John W. Fawcett, a longtime resident of Palisades, died peacefully on January 18, 2013 at Nyack Manor in Valley Cottage. John was born on January 11, 1934 to John L. and Stella Fawcett in Acushnet, MA. Prior to entering the US Navy, John studied textile engineering at the Philadelphia College of Textile. Upon his discharge from the US Navy, John went on to Doran Textile, retiring in 1995 as a textile technician. He was a member and past Treasurer of the Christ Church in Sparkill.
He is survived by his wife Louise (nee Cuomo); his children, Suzanne DiTucci and her husband Robert, John Michael Fawcett and his wife Rosa and Lisa Ito and her husband Tomoki; and his grandchildren, Daniel, Nicholas, Kristen, Gianna, Keiko and Mari.