PEOPLE - park management personalities - Brief Article - Obituary

Parks & Recreation, Oct, 1999

APPOINTMENTS

Scott Caron, CLP, was recently hired as superintendent of facilities for the Vernon Hills Park District in Vernon Hills, Ill. A graduate of the University of Missouri, Caron is certified as an American Red Cross instructor/trainer and a Certified Pool Operator. In his new position, Caron will be responsible for the operation and supervision of the district's family aquatic center and the Sullivan Community Center. Most recently, Caron served as the aquatic director for the Derby (Kan.) Recreation Commission.

The Fairfax County (Va.) Park Authority has announced the appointment of John D. Pitts, P.E., a licensed engineer, as project management branch chief in the Planning and Development division. Pitts has most recently been involved with the Heritage Hunt community and golf course in Gainesville and the new zebra facility and renovated Mane Restaurant and picnic pavilion at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

OBITUARIES

Sidney G. Lutzin, a national leader in the recreation field, died on July 10. He was 84. Serving as Laurance S. Rockefeller's vice president, Lutzin was instrumental in the creation of the National Recreation and Park Association, of which he subsequently became director.

Lutzin's personal and professional distinctions and accomplishments are too numerous to catalogue. In 1937, he organized and administered a year-round recreation program for his hometown of Kingston, N.Y. A consultant to President Kennedy on the state of recreation in the United States, Lutzin served as president of the New York State Recreation and Park Society in 1955 and '56. He was a charter member of the American Recreation Society -- and its president in 1964.

Lutzin, who received his master's degree in leisure services, recreation, and parks from Tufts University in Boston, wrote substantially in the field of recreation and youth services. A man who cherished education, he also studied recreation and social research at New York University and public administration at the New York Graduate School of Public Affairs.

William J. Burke, a founding father of the BCI Burke Company and a leader in the field of playground-equipment design and manufacturing, died on July 26. He was 78. Burke was a vice president of the company and the son of the firm's founder, J.E. Burke, who started the company in 1928.

Having authorized the original "Guide to Playground Planning," which listed more than 30 safety standards, Burke was noted for his impact on the safety and design of the evolving playground industry. He was appointed to the Presidents Council on Playground Safety in 1984.