BRONSON BINGER

BINGER--Bronson, 1930-2013. Bronson Binger, a fifth-generation New Yorker and preservation architect, whose lifetime of work significantly improved the architectural integrity and beauty of the city, died from complications of kidney failure on December 23rd, 2013, at his daughter's home in Housatonic, MA. He was 83 and had been ill for several months. Mr. Binger, who grew up on East 75th Street, attended the Buckley School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College and Carnegie Mellon. He was perhaps best known for the restoration of Union Square during the first Koch administration, while working as Director of Capital Projects for the city's Parks Department. He also headed up the design teams and architectural consultants who restored Central Park from 1978 until he resigned in 1985. Working with Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, the first Central Park Administrator, his team completely restored Bethesda Terrace, Sheep's Meadow, the Dairy and many other major structures of the Park. He is survived by his sister, Frances Mitchell, his companion, Ann Gaffney, his first wife, Susan Binger, his second wife, Julie Wang, his three children, Lucie Spieler, Sarah B. James and Walter D. Binger, two stepchildren, Timothy Wang and Katharine Wang, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial service will be held at Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, at 11am on January 11, 2014. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations in his memory to one of the organizations he supported-- Forestdale (www.forestdaleinc.org), the Phillips Exeter Academy (www.exeter.edu), Grace Church (www.gracebrooklyn.org)--or a charity of your choice.