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![]() Paul and Long Island: Inseperable Identities, Forged by Fate! This Long Island region we all know and love actually emerged from the frigid mists of the last Ice Age only about 10,000 or so years ago. As the great ice fields one mile thick retreated back north, and warm air rushed in, the now-familiar LI landscape was carved out. In place of a mile-high chunk of ice the island slowly rose from the sea, with green meadows and broad plains, gently rolling hills, deep kettle hole lakes, incredible harbors and bays, thousands of acres of rich topsoil, many more acres of woodland, and a thousand other natural assets that would eventually make this island a temperate zone paradise. Then came humans who brought with them settlements - first, Native American clan gathering places; later, English and Dutch farming, fishing, rural and urban development, and finally the Industrial Age, as personified by our Grummans, Republics and Fairchilds. Lots of great "stuff," as comedian George Carlin might note in his skit. All that was needed to help us reach our full potential was a genuine promoter. Oh, there have been a few great LI promoters over the years: that fellow Reynolds, who built Coney Island and then Long Beach City (using elephants to lay the boardwalk and grab media attention); hustlin' Carl Fisher, the ambitious man who built Indianapolis Speedway, lived on LI and created today's Montauk community. But he moved to Florida to build Miami Beach and lost all his money (dumb!). There was the LIRR's legendary development and publicity team Hal and Edith Fullerton, who helped bring thousands of new residents to the eastern reaches to farm and who were tireless promoters of Queens-Nassau-Suffolk. But what Long Island had long awaited was a promotional genius who could wake everyone up to what we had right here at home - the fantastic opportunities to be found within the two great counties - and tell us all what we could do with our resources. And then help us reach our potential! Lucky for us, along came Paul Townsend! You may not know a lot about his early years. Paul was born into a family of the original LI settlers - the Townsends of Oyster Bay - and grew up on the North Shore. He graduated from Hobart College, then Columbia Law School, and served in WW II as a military intelligence officer. Which was appropriate because his famous forebear, Robert Townsend ("Culpepper Junior" to the American revolutionary forces), was General George Washington's favorite LI spy in the American Revolution! Rarin' to make his mark, Paul came home to Long Island and joined a creative works known as Corydon M. Johnson, which had begun life as Grumman's words and graphics subcontractor during WW II. Paul helped to make CMJ a leading ad and creative agency. One of Paul's most important early career moves was to help create and then for a decade manage an institution that helped to shape modern Long Island: the Long Island Fund, where he produced its famed "Star Nights," the legendary programs at Belmont and Roosevelt Raceway attended by tens of thousands of Long Island workers to benefit local and regional charities. (This organization was the foundation for today's United Way of Long Island.) Paul also led the drive to create a hometown hospital for the North Shore - today's North Shore LIJ system is a direct descendant. In the 1950s, Paul teamed with Tex McCrary, a PR pioneer, and others to launch a public relations agency in Nassau County (one of the first in the region). We all have our defining moment; Paul's came when the federal government offered the county Mitchel Air Base, and Paul organized "Planners for Mitchel" to save the facility for the region. Paul dreamed of an "airpark," with general aviation sharing the space with offices and industry. Newsday's powerful publisher had other ideas; the battle was joined. Angered and aroused, in the early 1960s Paul bought a small weekly business newspaper - the Long Island Commercial Review, which was also at the time the LIA's official publication - and turned it into a crusading daily newspaper (a business daily, no less!). While the epic Battle for Mitchel Field was lost, Paul was to win many, many other crusades in the years ahead and with Mitchel and the new paper he found his calling: pushing, leading or pulling the region (sometimes cheering, sometimes kicking and screaming) into the future. And what a future is was to be! And so we come to the Paul so familiar to us all. And the newspaper we all know and identify with Paul; it, too, has changed over the 40 years that Paul and Terry owned it; it was bi-weekly, then daily, then back to bi-weekly and then, finally, a weekly publication that was a "must-read" for everyone in the region. What did not change was Paul's fervent pursuit of new ideas and his passion for the next crusade; his unabashed love of the region; the constant flow of ideas and challenges; and his attraction to the many issues that really mattered. What was the new, new thing? Paul would rattle them off, machine-gun style: a bridge across the Sound; rail links to the mainland; regional airports; a Fire Island national seashore park; high tech corridors; stronger higher ed institutions; new approaches to doing business; affordable housing; revitalized downtowns; slimmer government; even speeding up charity dinners by skipping the soup course! Paul was and is irrepressible. And he is man who will not be denied his crusade! Along the way, many famous people were attracted to Paul. (Paul pointed out to us many years ago that social critic Cleveland Amory defined celebrity as a person whose name created news by itself.) By this definition, celebrities galore have been associated with Paul. And, to his everlasting credit, Paul has helped to create regional celebrities - many of the folks we know in business, government, philanthropy, charities, healthcare, technology, public service, the professions. The lives of each would have been much different had their paths not intersected with Paul's! We all are in Paul's debt. And so, from each of us here at this tribute to Paul, we thank him for his passionate, untiring efforts on behalf of this great region - no longer covered with ice, or vacated by day as commuters leave their bedrooms, or a backwater to that bigger city to the west. He has helped to make each of us who we are and Long Island what it is today. Paul's legacy will be his footprints upon the land - that endless inventory of the region's great assets (human, institutional, material, etc.), and the many thriving businesses that he has helped as they grew. All help to make our lives richer and more productive. Well done, Paul! This is your Star Night! |
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Copyright 2005 H.L. Boerner. All rights reserved.![]() |
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