John Cronin
Director and Chief Executive Officer
John Cronin
Photo credit: Lynda Shenkman Curtis
For 35 years, John Cronin has dedicated his career to environment and innovation. For his accomplishments, Time magazine named him a “Hero for the Planet” and People magazine described him as “equal parts detective, scientist and public advocate.”
He is director of Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries which is developing real-time technologies and observatories for waterways around the world, and Senior Fellow in Environmental Affairs at Pace University where he is helping develop the next generation of environmental and economic policy for water.
Cronin has worked as an activist, legislative and congressional aide, commercial fisherman, professor, author and filmmaker. He is known internationally for his Hudson River work, for which the Wall Street Journal called him “a unique presence on America’s major waterways.” He served as Hudson Riverkeeper from 1983 – 2000, a position that has inspired a legacy of 200 Waterkeeper programs that fight pollution on six continents.
He co-authored The Riverkeepers, written with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and published by Scribner with an introduction by Vice President Al Gore. He has written numerous articles, including for the Op Ed page of The New York Times. He wrote and co-produced the film “The Last Rivermen,” named an outstanding documentary by the Motion Picture Academy Foundation.
In addition to being named a Time magazine Hero for the Planet, Cronin’s many awards and honors include an Honorary Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law, the William E. Ricker Award from the American Fisheries Society, and the Thomas Berry Environmental Award. He has been the subject of two books and extensive major media print and broadcast news stories, documentaries and profiles.
The Knight-Ridder newspapers praised John Cronin as a “hero in one of the great success stories of the modern environmental movement.”
