Adam Honigman, 53, parks advocate, dies

By Albert Amateau

Adam Honigman, a longtime member of Community Board 4 and an advocate for parks and community gardens, died on Tues., Oct. 16 at the age of 53.

At a memorial service at Temple Emanuel on Fri., Oct. 19, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner William Castro paid tribute to his passionate advocacy for parks and for neighborhood preservation. The service was followed by a gathering in the Clinton Community Garden on W. 48th St., which he help found 20 years ago, attended by about 50 neighbors, community board members and friends.

In 2005, the Department of Parks and Recreation awarded him the N.Y.C. Parks Greenthumb Garden Hero Award.

On the community board, Adam Honigman served on the Waterfront and Park Committees and on the Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen Land Use Committee.

“He was never shy about reminding us about what was right thing to do — he was like a good conscience, and like a good conscience you sometimes wished he’d go away,” said Lee Compton, former chairperson of C.B. 4, which covers Chelsea and Clinton.

Honigman was a founding member and past-president of the 55th St. Block Association and a founding member of the De Witt Clinton Park Conservancy. He was also a founding member of the Friends of the Bellevue Sobriety Garden.

“He was a fierce defender of the Parks Department when he felt we were being unfairly criticized,” Adrian Benepe, Parks Commissioner, said in a telephone interview. “And when he was criticizing us he would always leaven it with a sense of humor,” Benepe added, recalling that he and Adam, who was a few years older, went to P.S. 75 on the Upper West Side.

Adam’s wife, Allegra, died in January 2004, and he was frequently depressed. He died by suicide after jumping from his apartment.

“I was torn up about the news of his death and I felt, as many others I’m sure did, that we could have been more help to him at a crucial moment,” Benepe said.

A son, Daniel Honigman, of Chicago, survives.