Bill Bylewski

At Chi-Town Shakedown, 2010

William Martin Bylewski
18 Jul 1961 - 19 Feb 2015

Clubs & Associations

Times Squares

Medallion Dancer

• 2010 | 10 Year Medallion at Chi-Town Shakedown

Remembrancess

IN MEMORIAM
Bill Bylewski

Bill Bylewski, whom I considered to be my best friend, passed away on February 19th at the young age of 53. We first met in 1988 as members of Times Squares. We were part of a group. Bill and I were never that close and I left the group in 1990. Years later I rejoined Times Squares. We met at a pot luck supper and we then became instant friends.

Bill grew up in Buffalo, NY. After graduating from university he went on to become a brilliant architect. His sense of beauty and style was obvious in his work. Then at 40 he lost most of his eyesight and his career was over. Life can be so cruel.

We talked every day. We used to go clothes shopping together. Sounds silly I know, but he taught me how to dress. He had such an incredible sense of detail. We spent many a summer Sunday visiting different Brooklyn neighborhoods. I loved his company.

We were also there for each other during some of our darker times. We both suffered from depression and he was there for me always.

I know life goes on, but it will take some time to adjust to living without Bill. Many people have lost a friend with Bill’s passing. He will remain in our hearts always.
— Keith Garrod

Memorial in Gantry Plaza State Park Honors Late Community Leader
by Jeanmarie Evelly

LONG ISLAND CITY — A memorial was installed this weekend in Gantry Plaza State Park honoring late advocate Bill Bylewski, a longtime Hunters Point resident who spent years bettering his neighborhood's waterfront.

Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, an advocacy group that Bylewski helped found, dedicated a plaque on a wall in the garden of the park on Saturday, which was also the late community leader's birthday. He died from cancer earlier this year at the age of 53, friends said.

"I tried to make it more like a celebration of his life and service to the neighborhood," said Mark Christie, a fellow park advocate who worked alongside Bylewski in the park for more than a decade.

Bylewski was one of the founding members and longtime president of Friends of Gantry Plaza State Park, a group that advocated for the green space since its earliest days by cleaning, weeding and planting there.

The group expanded last year and was renamed the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy — a change Bylewski helped oversee — in order to include the new Hunters Point South Park, which opened on the waterfront just south of Gantry Park in 2013.

Christie said the garden in Gantry Park where the plaque was installed, between 49th and 50th Avenues, was where he and Bylewski worked together planting last year in what was the last project they would undertake together before Bylewski fell ill.

The plaque bears Bylewski's name, calling him a "caretaker of the beauty and garden of this park."

"This is a fitting tribute to him, and it should be in the garden forever," Christie said.

Memorial Panel

• 2UR | Times Squares

Photos

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  Bishop Turner High (Buffalo, NY) yearbook portrait, 1976

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  At Chi-Town Shakedown, 2010

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  Memorial Plaque, Gantry Plaza State Park, Long Island City, New York. Photo courtesy of Jim Babcock

Video

Video of Bill speaking about the Hunters Point Park Conservancy

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