Name Bernadette Cozart | Died July 27, 2009 | |
Bernadette Cozart (May 17, 1947/1949 – July 27, 2009) was an American professional gardener, botanist and urban gardening advocate. She worked for a time with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Cozart founded the Greening of Harlem Coalition in 1989 to help residents regenerate and take responsibility for their own neighborhoods, transform rundown vacant lots in Harlem into flower gardens and to restore existing green spaces.
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In 1989, Cozart founded the Greening of Harlem Coalition. Cozart worked to establish flower and vegetable gardens throughout Harlem and other neighborhoods in New York City. Much of Cozart's focus was on the establishment of gardens at New York City schools. The gardens were constructed at several public schools. Among the examples of gardens designed by Cozart and the Greening of Harlem Coalition was a playground with garden boxes at P.S. 197 and a Japanese style garden with a pagoda at P.S. 134.
Cozart explained her advocacy for school gardens in a 1993 New York Times piece on The Greening of Harlem Coalition, "Instead of taking children on field trips to see farms and gardens, why not bring nature into the community? I don't think it's fair that they should have to go outside the community to have that experience of seeing things grow."
Cozart moved from Harlem to Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2002, where she became president of the Allentown Garden Club. Under her guidance, the club launched the Allentown Beautification Program in 2006, which aimed to beautify street intersections in Allentown using native plants and flowers. The program was based om the Greening of Harlem Coalition, which Cozart had founded in 1989. Cozart and the Allentown Garden Club, with the support of Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski, relied on donations from local businesses and community organizations to cover the funding of the Allentown Beautification Program.
Death
Cozart suffered a heart attack while taking a water aerobics class at Cedar Beach in Allentown. She was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital-Allentown, but died on the way to the hospital. She was pronounced dead at the hospital on July 27, 2009, at 11:27 a.m. Her age was given as 62 at the time. Allentown Mayor Pawlowski spoke of Cozart, noting that her death was a loss for the city and larger community, "She helped in greening Allentown and making it a better place to live ... [S]he is going to be sorely missed. I, for one, am going to miss her. We are a little bit less in the city today because of her loss." Cozart was survived by her partner, Kathleen Kapila.