PELHAM — Arthur V. Savage, 86, died on Dec. 26, 2012. He was born in NYC and lived in Pelham, N.Y.
After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1944, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1944 to 1946, and was stationed in Japan as part of the post-war occupation. He received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1948 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 1952.
Mr. Savage practiced law in NYC for over 60 years. Apart from private practice, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 1957 to 1961, serving as Assistant Chief of its Civil Division from 1959 to 1961. Among his professional activities, Mr. Savage was First Chairman of the N.Y. Bar Association's Special Committee on Environmental Law; once the Association's Section on Environmental Law was established, he served on its Executive Committee. At the time of his death, he was of counsel to Patton, Eakins, Lipsett, Martin and Savage.
For more than half a century, Mr. Savage served on many public and private organizations that helped shape environmental and conservation policies and practices in N.Y.: the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks; the Adirondack Mountain Reserve; the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, of which he was a founding trustee in 1952; the Adirondack Nature Conservancy, which he co-founded in 1973; the Adirondack Park Agency, Commissioner from 1979 to 1997 (by appointment of the Governor); SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry, trustee from 1978 to 1997 (by appointment of the Governor); and Parks & Trails N.Y.
Mr. Savage also served for many years as a trustee or manager of charitable, educational or religious organizations, including: the Havens Relief Fund Society; the Bruce L. Crary Foundation; the Princeton Blairstown Center, Darrow School; the George W. Perkins Memorial Foundation; the Walbridge Fund; the N.Y. Theological Seminary; and the Board of Foreign Parishes.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Harriet Boyd Hawes; his four children, Richard Savage, Elizabeth Wright, Sarah Christie, and Katherine Schulze; nine grandchildren; and his sisters, Susan Speers and Serena Baum.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 5, at Christ Church, 1415 Pelhamdale Ave., Pelham, NY.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Adirondack Council, P.O. Box D-2, Elizabethtown, NY 12932.
