We received the following email in our inbox this morning: “Hello Friends of Mr. Everett Ortner — With sadness, I am informing you of Mr. Ortner’s passing on Tuesday, May 22. Kindly inform your organization. Thank you for your friendship and for your promotion of Brooklyn causes. Please view [above] photo by Mr. Levi Stolove.” Here is part of a write-up about Mr. Ortner via Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn: “Since 1963, when he and his wife, Evelyn, bought a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, he has been a missionary for the brownstone-revival movement in New York City, and for urban revival nationally. He was a leader in the early days of the revival movement in Park Slope, a photographer and public-relations man for the Park Slope Civic Council, and a founder, with Joe Ferris, of the Park Slope Betterment Committee, which organized many series of particularized house tours (hard-selling houses that needed work). With Ken Patton as chairman, he was a co-founder and first president (1968) of the Brownstone Revival Committee of New York, now the Brownstone Revival Coalition–a citywide organization devoted to the promotion and preservation of New York City’s older communities. He is currently its Chairman Emeritus. The BRC publishes a newsletter, ‘The Brownstoner,’ sponsors lectures and workshops on architectural history and preservation topics, and acts frequently as the voice of New York’s brownstone communities. He continues to write for and edit ‘The Brownstoner.'” Rest in peace, Mr. Ortner.
Everett H. Ortner [DDDB]


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  1. Everett and Evelyn were two of the first people I met after moving to Park Slope, and certainly two of the finest. They had an encyclopedic knowledge of architecture, history, and Brooklyn, but a passion for Park Slope. Evelyn chaired the committee documenting the area to create the PS Historic District, but they both worked with preservation and landmark groups, as well as elected representatives, banks, police, utility companies, whatever it took to turn the neighborhood around. They probably did more than anyone to change the gang-ridden, burnt-out, red-lined neighborhood it was in the ’60s to the residential gem that it is today. Not a bad legacy for someone to have. He will be sorely missed.