Former APA Chairman ‘Woody’ Cole remembered
By MIKE LYNCH, Enterprise Outdoors WriterArticle Photos
KEENE VALLEY - The Rev. Herman "Woody" Cole, a former state Adirondack Park Agency chairman who was instrumental in overseeing the establishment of the Visitor Interpretive Centers, died on Tuesday at the age of 78.
Cole served as Gov. Mario Cuomo's chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency board from 1984 to 1992. Cole previously served as the Department of State designee from 1976 to 1978.
"Perhaps his greatest legacies are the Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Centers at Paul Smiths and Newcomb," said Elizabeth Thorndike, a former APA commissioner who served with Cole. "Not only did he take the lead in convincing state government to support creation and operation of the centers, but he also devoted countless volunteer hours to make their programs possible, both while on the agency and for many years afterwards."
Keene resident Dan Plumley, director of conservation programs for Protect the Adirondacks!, remembered Cole as a strong leader.
"I started my conservation career in the mid-'80s, so Woody stands out to me as a leader of the Park Agency that really, for the most part, recognized the intrinsic value of all life," Plumley said. "Woody really made it paramount to recognize that all biota, all natural living species, have an intrinsic right to exist, and if we wanted the Park to achieve its best and highest goals, we better make sure we protect our biological diversity."
After he was done serving as APA chairman, Cole would volunteer his time at the Paul Smiths VIC.
"He was a real big butterfly fan," said daughter Deborah Cole, a renowned opera singer who lives in Germany. "The Butterfly House was one of his favorite places to go."
In the late 1970s, Woody Cole was also the executive director of the New York State Sports and Winter Olympics Commission for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, serving under then-Secretary of State Cuomo. Cole, his wife Rosalea and family - they have four children - moved from Albany to Lake Placid in 1977 after he was named to the position. Rosalea Cole now lives in Jay.
"That's what we came up here for, to work for the Olympics, kind of a liaison between the State Department and the Olympics under Mario Cuomo."
Woody Cole was a retired United Church of Christ clergyman and a philosophy professor at Buffalo State University. He was born Aug. 4, 1931 in Washington, Pa., grew up in Wheeling, W.Va. and studied at West Liberty State College. He continued his education at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
There will be a gathering of friends to lift a glass and celebrate Cole's life from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Keene Valley Congregational Church. A funeral service will be held there at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The family requests food donations for the local food pantry in lieu of flowers.
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Contact Mike Lynch at 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
