Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) is proud to announce Cord Meyer Development and George S. Meyer and the Meyer Family as honorees for its World’s Fair Rose Gala on Thursday, June 12, 2014 from 6 to 9pm. The Garden is delighted to be recognizing these outstanding leaders for their generous and steadfast support of the Garden and of the greater Queens community.

For more than a century, the Cord Meyer Development Company has been a driving force in the growth of the borough of Queens, especially for the neighborhoods of Elmhurst and Forest Hills. The Meyer family was also instrumental in championing the creation, preservation and enhancement of Queens Botanical Garden. The firm – and the Meyer family that founded it five generations ago– have left a deep and lasting impression on Queens County and continue to contribute to its advancement in multiple ways.

In 1946, Charles G. Meyer, Sr., working with other civic leaders to revive the “Gardens on Parade” exhibit in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, formally established the Queens Botanical Garden Society, Inc. That 5-acre exhibit had been created for the 1939 New York World’s Fair but had fallen into a state of disrepair during the World War II years. On June 5, 1948,

these civic leaders were joined by 4000 local residents, leading citizens, and government representatives to celebrate the official opening of the re-created Garden. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Queens Borough President James Burke presented the symbolic “keys” to Mr. Meyer, Queens Botanical Garden’s first president.

Through the decades, as QBG flourished and moved to its current, larger location, the Meyer family continued to be a steadfast supporter and advocate. Following Charles G. Meyer’s death in 1950, his son Charles G. Meyer, Jr. took over his position, continuing as president through the late 1970’s. In 1986, the Charles G. Meyer, Jr. Education Building opened to host QBG’s burgeoning education program. His son, George S. Meyer, continued the family’s involvement with the Garden by serving on the board of trustees, beginning in 1972, becoming chairman in the 1980’s, and returning as a trustee in in the 2000s. The family tradition continued with George’s son, Willets, who joined the board in 2006 and went on to serve as vice chairman.

The evening’s festivities will also include a Membership Award to be giving to David and Silvia Siegel. The Little Neck couple joined the Garden in 1964, expressing the desire to support a botanical garden that the Borough of Queens could call its own. The Siegels have supported QBG with their membership for a remarkable fifty years.

Cord Meyer Development is the lead sponsor for Rose Gala 2014. Additional sponsors include the Kupferberg Foundation, the Max and Selma Kupferberg Family Foundation, Andrea Woodner and the Andrea Woodner Fund, Farrell Fritz, Atlantic Bank – a division of New York Commercial Bank, Broadway Stages, Charles F. and Helen A. Dolan, HSBC, the Law Offices of Gary Park, P.C. and the Korean American Friends of QBG, and Variosystems, Inc. For more information, please visit our website at www.queensbotanical.org/rosegala