Lance Konselman, July 29, 2007

Published in Garden City High School ‘65

Lance M. Konselman, a man of high erudition with an abiding commitment to public service and a fixture on the Staten Island cultural scene, died at Silver Lake Specialized Care Center, after a lengthy illness. He was 60 years old and at the time of his death was vice president for finance and administration at the Staten Island Botanical Garden.

His career was as diverse and as interesting as his family history. His formal résumé included a bachelor’s degree and Phi Beta Kappa key from Yale University, a tour of duty in military intelligence, with postings at Fort Meade in Maryland and Beirut, Lebanon, and lengthy assignments with a host of public service organizations such as Praxis Housing Initiatives and Project Return. His career at the Botanical Garden began in 1998.        

“Lance had the background and connections to thrive in the world of high finance and international banking,” said Frances X. Paulo Huber, a close friend and president of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. “But he always gravitated back to public service. It was part of his persona, part of his heritage. It was an honor to work with him at Snug Harbor. It was also a lot of fun.”

Born in Garden City, L.I., Mr. Konselman grew up in what he called “an international household.” His father and mother had met in London, during World War II, while serving in Allied Military intelligence. Although his parents left the armed services at the end of the war, military life was part of Mr. Konselman’s heritage, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army upon graduation from Yale in 1969.

Always a good student — he had majored in history, economics and art history — the Army assigned him to intelligence and enrolled him in the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. There he earned a master’s degree in Arabic and became a translator and interpreter in a number of high-security assignments in the United States and abroad.

Mr. Konselman enjoyed speaking Arabic with Staten Islanders of Middle Eastern origin, whether it was foreign policy issues or ordering a sandwich in a West Brighton deli owned by expatriate Iraqis.

Upon his discharge from the Army in 1972, he worked for Citicorp in the office of the chief financial officer, traveling extensively in Asia and Europe, but by the late 1980s the attraction of the public, not-for-profit sector became increasingly strong to him.

“It’s that I wanted a deeper sense of satisfaction in what I did,” Mr. Konselman recalled.

It was that need that led him to Project Return Foundation in Manhattan, where he became director of administration and acting chief financial officer. The Foundation specialized in providing space for such organizations as the Women and Children’s Center in East Harlem, the Second Avenue Parole Center and Project Samaritan.

Within four years, he was manager of field activities for the Medical and Health Research Association Inc., supervising a team of nine program coordinators who evaluated programs that provided primary and pre-natal care, case management, housing, home and mental health services to HIV-positive clients in New York City. By 1998, he was controller of Praxis Housing Initiatives which prepared grant applications, budgets and reporting mechanisms for new and exiting funders that included Housing Opportunities for People with HIV, Ryan White Care and the Low Income Housing Fund.

In 1998, Mr. Konselman moved to Staten Island, living first in Stapleton, then buying a home in West Brighton. It was during this time that he discovered the Botanical Garden and Snug Harbor Cultural Center.

In the same year, he became the Garden’s chief financial officer.

Rona Cusick, acting president of the Botanical Garden, remembered Mr. Konselman, as “a wonderful guy, always present on the job, who rarely took vacation and loved every part of what he did. He had a smile for everyone, and he will be sorely missed.”

“Lance will always be remembered as a loving cousin and dear friend to his entire family,” said his cousin, Darby Ann Delgarbo.

A serious reader, he prided himself on dispatching at least one book, sometimes two a week, on such diverse topics as Middle Eastern politics, European history and archeology. He was also a devotee of the New York Times crossword puzzle.

Although Mr. Konselman did not travel often, when he did he went far afield, with destinations including Turkey, Greece and North Africa. He had planned next year to visit his aunt, a retired professor who lives in Bologna, Italy, and from there he had arranged to visit the Marconnay Chateau in France, which is owned by his family. In fact, Marconnay was Mr. Konselman’s middle name.

“He had no illusions about that property,” said Frances Paulo Huber. “He called it the ‘shabby chateau’ but it still fits the bill: Moat, drawbridge, crumbling parapets. He found a picture of it on line and was rightly proud.”

Class Notes: Lance Konselman died in July after a long illness. At the time of his death he was the vice president for finance and administration at the Staten Island Botanical Garden. He was Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, and upon graduation served a tour of duty in Army intelligence. (His parents met in London while both were in Allied military intelligence.) He was posted to Beirut and was fluent in Arabic. Lance spent most of his post-Yale career in the not-for-profit sector. He held executive positions at Project Return Foundation, Medical and Health Research Association, and Praxis Housing Initiatives. He moved to Staten Island in 1998. Here is what Eric Johnson says about Lance: “He was a dear friend, a fraternity brother of incredible wit and bridge skill, and a member of my wedding party in 1971. I will always remember him as an outgoing gentleman, a quick study, and one who taught me much of what I now know about living outside whatever norms may exist at one time or another. A moment I shared with him—when I recall him being his most animated—was when we were in the TV audience and heard, in March 1968, ‘I will not seek, nor will I accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.’ Good work, Lance, then—we were ‘clean for Gene’—and now. Obviously, your great heart has gone on to touch many others. I wish you always well and to your family, a share of your strength.”

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