Posted by Jeff Richman on August 12th, 2020

Pete Hamill, Brooklynite, journalist, friend of "The Green-Wood," now lies at The Green-Wood Cemetery. Hamill was a legend--a high school dropout who became a writer, rose to be the editor of the New York Daily News and the New York Post, and became a leading voice--and a legend--of Brooklyn and New York. He died on Wednesday, August 5, at the age of 85. Pete was from a large family. His parents were both Irish immigrants. He had five brothers and one sister--and he was the big brother to them all.… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on August 6th, 2020

In 2002, after Green-Wood restored and rededicated New York City's Civil War Soldiers' Monument, we launched Green-Wood's Civil War Project. Its aim was to identify as many Civil War veterans as possible, to write a biography for each, and to mark, with gravestones obtained from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the graves of those that were unmarked. That project has had success beyond our wildest dreams. Our expectation, when it started, was that we might find up to 500 Civil War veterans interred at Green-Wood. But, through the efforts of… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on May 6th, 2020

There are many heroes at Green-Wood. Some are now dead. Some are still alive. Some were heroes because they bravely did their job. Others were heroes because they saw a job that needed to be done and took it upon themselves to do it. Heroes have stepped up to many challenges during Green-Wood's 182 year history, offering themselves to help others. What do heroes have in common? They head towards danger--towards conflict--to selflessly make things better for others. Implicit in being a medical doctor is helping others. In 1863, Dr.… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on April 16th, 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, was appointed in January to the Trump Administration's White House Coronavirus Task Force. With his almost-daily appearances at nationally-televised press conferences, and his science-based approach, he has become famous. Dr. Fauci has had an extraordinary career pioneering the science of human immune responses. He has served every United States President since Ronald Reagan. In 2003, a survey found that Dr. Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist in the world in the… Read more

Posted by Jeff Richman on March 25th, 2020

My most recent book, "The Gallant Sims": A Civil War Hero Rediscovered, was published by The Green-Wood Historic Fund in 2016. It is the story of Samuel Harris Sims, a brave and noble man, who in 1861 left his work as a glass stainer in Brooklyn to fight to preserve the Union during the Civil War. Early in that war, he recruited a company of 100 men, many of whom were his Brooklyn friends and neighbors, to serve as Company G of the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry. As the… Read more