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M.M. Graff Dies At Age 97
July 25, 2007
Mildred Millar Graff, who wrote about and championed New York City parks from the 1960s through the 1980s, died at her home in Brooklyn in early July at the age of 97. Graff penned such essential park tomes as Tree Trails in Central Park (1970), Rock Trails in Central Park (1976), and Bridges of Central Park (1990).Ms. Graff rode on the back of an arborist’s truck in Central Park through the 1970s, directing the pruning of trees with early signs of Dutch elm disease. Most controversial was her assertion in 1982 that Calvert Vaux was more important than Frederick Law Olmsted in designing Central Park. In a pamphlet sent to park devotees and, later, in her book “Central Park-Prospect Park: A New Perspective,” she cast Olmsted as a novice learning at the feet of Vaux, and she blamed Olmsted for mistakes like planting aggressive alien plants.
A memorial service will be held on July 28, from 10 a.m. to noon at Lockwood Funeral Home, 255 21st St., Brooklyn.
