John Cronin
John Cronin
John Cronin is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Beacon Institute and the Director of the Pace Academy for the Environment at Pace University. For more than 30 years, he has dedicated himself to protection of the American environment. He has spent most of his career on New York's Hudson River, as an advocate, lobbyist, legislative aide and commercial fishermen, including 17 years as the Hudson Riverkeeper.
Cronin serves as Pace University's first Resident Scholar in Environmental Studies where he was also a founder of the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace Law School. He is the founder and co-chair of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities of The Beacon Institute.
A writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker, Cronin co-authored The Riverkeepers, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., published by Scribner. He has been a frequent contributor on environmental policy to the Op Ed page of The New York Times, and wrote and co-produced "The Last Rivermen" which was named an outstanding documentary film of 1991 by the Motion Picture Academy Foundation.
Cronin has been the subject of two books and many print and broadcast documentaries and profiles. His regional and national environmental work has brought him numerous honors including Time Magazine Hero for the Planet, American Fisheries Society William E. Ricker Award, Thomas Berry Environmental Award, and an Honorary Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law.
Cronin's Hudson River work has included service as the Environmental Director for both the Clearwater organization and the Center for the Hudson River Valley, which later merged with Scenic Hudson, Inc. He worked as an environmental policy specialist for Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr. and for New York State Assemblyman Maurice Hinchey, for whom he served on a special investigative task force on Love Canal.
Cronin is the founder and president of the Hudson Fisheries Trust, a trustee of Building Bridges, Building Boats, and a board member of the Pitch for Kids Foundation.
