1946-2024
Kathleen Galop was an attorney who was instrumental in preserving Branch Brook Park and founding the Cherry Blossom Festival. She served on the Essex County Parks Advisory Council and later became County Executive Historic Preservation Officer and Acting Director of the Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. She was president of the New Jersey Historic Trust.
Kathleen was born in Newark in 1946 and grew up near Branch Brook Park. She attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. She graduated from The Dickinson School of Law and became assistant general counsel for the Prudential.
Kathleen founded The Newark Cherry Blossom Festival in 1975. She wrote the nomination of Branch Brook Park for the New Jersey and National Historic Registers. Branch Brook was officially placed on the National Historic Register in 1971. She served on the Board of the Branch Brook Park Alliance from its formation in 1999 to 2007.
When the Essex County Park Commission was replaced by the county Parks Department in 1980, Kathleen was asked to be on the Essex County Parks Advisory Council. Then in 1989, Kathleen left corporate law practice when she was appointed by the County Executive Historic Preservation Officer and Acting Director of the Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. She was appointed to the New Jersey Historic Trust in 1991 and later served as President.
She established Preservation Possibilities, a historic preservation consulting firm, in 1998 and continued work on behalf of the Essex County Park System. In 2007, she co-authored Branch Brook Park (Images of America) to honor its history and lasting value.
She was given multiple awards for her work including the New Jersey Jaycee-ettes Outstanding Young Woman Award in 1980. She won the Veritas Award for Historic Preservation from Caldwell University in 2008. She married Philip Falco in 1998.
Bibliography
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-galop-1546634/
Obit: https://www.sheafuneralhomes.com/obituaries/kathleen-galop
DiOnno, Mark “Newark’s Family Tree” Star Ledger Mar 27, 2016
Kathleen P. Galop Papers: https://newarkpubliclibrary.libraryhost.com/repositories/3/resources/67
Newark Library Digital Collections 1 2
“Kathleen Galop Honored by Dickson Law School” The Item Aug 17, 1989
Ancestry.com yearbook and censuses
“Galop Named to State Post” The Item May 2, 1991
“Jaycees Honor Pair” Star Ledger Feb 4, 1980