Queens Botanical Garden director retires
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | OCT. 8 - OCT. 14, 2021 19
and celebrating Lacerte’s
achievements at
QBG, staff and trustees
are also currently conducting
a search for the
next executive director
to lead the cultural organization.
“Thanks to Susan’s
leadership, the garden
has been transformed
from a nearly forgotten
space into an urban oasis
that welcomes hundreds
of thousands of
people to the heart of
Queens,” said Raymond
D. Jasen, QBG board
chair. “It is a testament
to what Susan has
achieved that so many
incredibly talented
people from all over the
country have applied to
become our next executive
director to help us
to build on the garden’s
achievements in the
years to come.”
In honor of her nearly
three decades of remarkable
management,
the garden is also holding
a special fundraising
campaign. They’re
inviting the public to
participate in the event.
“Susan has always
said that her greatest
wish was $1,000,000 for
Queens Botanical Garden.
So, in honor of her
retirement and all she’s
done for the garden,
we’re trying our very
best to see how close
we come to making her
wish come true,” said
Olivia Cothren, QBG
director of development.
According to Lacerte,
QBG will forever
be in her heart, and will
“continue to cheer on
the Queens Botanical
Garden.”
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Susan Lacerte, director
of the Queens Botanical
Garden, is reflecting
on her nearly three
decades of leadership at
the green oasis in the
heart of Flushing, as she
retired from her position
at the end of September.
Lacerte, who described
herself as a
“plant-loving girl from
Connecticut whose color
from birth was green,”
first walked on the
grounds of Queens Botanical
Garden (QBG),
located at 43-50 Main
St., on July 11, 1994.
She did not imagine
that she would be there
for 27 years.
“I will be retiring in
September and moving
to Maine with my husband,
to be nearer to our
twins, other family and
friends,” Lacerte said
in a statement. “I have
cherished my time in
Queens, getting to know
you, mingling at member
events, concerts, festivals,
galas and more,
sharing in the magic
of this borough and its
people, and in helping
the garden grow and expand
its presence in the
city and the world.”
Lacerte began working
at QBG in 1984, serving
as an intern and
children’s garden coordinator
for about eight
months.
“As director, I have
delighted in telling successive
classes of interns
that you just never
know where life will
take you — sometimes
you end up back where
you started!” Lacerte
said.
From a young age,
Lacerte loved stories
about how people use
plants and at QBG, she
was in a living laboratory
where “people,
plants and cultures
meet” — which became
the garden’s vision that
she adopted in 1997.
For Lacerte, it has
been a privilege and
honor to serve as the
leader of QBG.
Among her many
major accomplishments
during her nearly three
decades at the Garden
includes leading the installation
of the perimeter
fence and tree sculpture
gate in 2002.
She also set a new
benchmark for sustainability
with the opening
of the Visitor & Administration
Building in
2007. It became NYC’s
first public building to
achieve Platinum LEED
certification.
For over 25 years,
she fostered the NYC
Compost Project at the
garden, and developed
new gardens in the 39-
acre oasis, including
the Kaltman Fragrance
Walk, Circle of Garden,
Four Seasons Border,
Sustainable Rose Garden
and Unity Garden.
Lacerte also presented
newly paved pathways
in a $5.5 million project
to welcome the next wave
of visitors to QBG.
Recently, Lacerte
launched the design
development and capital
campaign for the
upcoming Education
Center Building, which
will greatly enhance the
garden’s environmental
education efforts. The
building is slated to
open in 2024.
Under her leadership,
QBG became one
of the first cultural institutions
in the city to
reopen during the COVID
19 pandemic in July
2021, welcoming over
117,000 people to date.
The pandemic had
presented significant
challenges to the organization’s
staffing, finances
and operations.
It was temporarily
closed during the height
of the pandemic to help
curb the spread of the
virus.
According to Lacerte,
the garden is once
again bursting with
activity such as graduations,
weddings, classes,
farming, planting
projects and, of course,
flowers.
“Queens Botanical
Garden is doing well. It is
a joy to see how so many
cherish this beautiful and
tranquil open space, and
value it for the healthfulness
of being able to be
outdoors and moving,
or perhaps sitting on a
bench,” Lacerte said.
While looking back
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