Lorrimer Sanctuary

JOE BASRALIAN is a good neighbor. He knows the value of community. As a well-respected attorney with the law firm of Winne Banta Basralian & Kahn for the past 57 years, he has been an influential part of his Bergen County neighborhood. More recently, he has become a champion for New Jersey Audubon’s Lorrimer Sanctuary.

Joe rediscovered this hidden gem of Franklin Lakes when visiting with his grandchildren. Shortly afterwards, he agreed to represent the sanctuary on a project to safeguard the wooded habitat surrounding its nature center. At the time, Lorrimer was seeking to install much-needed deer fencing around the 14-acre preserved  property, and Joe helped them obtain a variance from the town pro bono. A forest understory is now beginning its return. Lorrimer is close to Joe’s home and his children had attended programs there through school and after school in the ‘70s and ‘80s; as he learned more about the sanctuary, he became inspired to do more. He arranged to meet with Lorrimer’s director to discuss the center’s funding needs – two weeks later, he returned with a surprise – a $15,000 check from the Winifred M. and George P. Pitkin Foundation to support Lorrimer’s summer education programs. This generous contribution was the start of an extraordinary relationship that will shape the future of this nature center and its community for generations to come.

The Winifred M. and George P. Pitkin Foundation is a private foundation that has distributed over $12 million, focusing its contributions in the area of education, especially with respect to medical-related programs, humanitarian efforts, and conservation education. As an attorney, Joe had been asked to help Dr. Winifred Pitkin with her estate planning. Dr. Pitkin was a prominent physician, professor, and owner of her own real estate firm in Englewood, NJ. Her husband, Dr. George Philo Pitkin, had been a pioneer of spinal anesthesia. “She wanted her estate to go into a foundation,” Joe explained. “Her business acumen created the resources to enable it to function.”

Joe serves as the Foundation’s President with a three-person board that makes its funding decisions. In 2023, the foundation made a key leadership gift to New Jersey Audubon’s SOAR Campaign of $1 million to enable a major renovation of Lorrimer that will make the center more welcoming and accessible and expand its programmatic reach. This support of Lorrimer is particularly exciting for Joe, as it will enhance the value of the sanctuary to local and surrounding communities. “The Winifred M. and George P. Pitkin Foundation’s gift to New Jersey Audubon cannot be understated in its significance,” stated Alex Ireland, New Jersey Audubon’s President and CEO. “We are so grateful to Joseph L. Basralian, Esq. and Dr. Frances Hoffman (the original Pitkin Foundation Co-Trustees) for this incredible commitment and for partnering with us to deliver the vision of an inspirational environmental education center at the Lorrimer Sanctuary.”

Lorrimer Sanctuary was bequeathed to the New Jersey Audubon Society by Lucine L. Lorrimer in 1956. Parts of the original main house date back to the late 1700’s. The first phase of renovation will modernize the building while retaining its historic character, bringing city water to the site, a new septic system, gas heat, and a new electrical system and air conditioning. The second phase of the project will provide an addition to the expanded classroom, an outdoor learning space, and more. “We will have a beautiful facility where 10,000 students a year can come in along with visitors who can walk the friendly trails of this unique preserve,” Joe says. “Nearly 200,000 youth and 1,000,000 people live in Bergen County alone,” he added. Looking further to the future, he stated: “Our goal now is to raise money to start an endowment for the center because the cost of operations will be much higher than they were before the renovations.”

Joe understands that it takes a lot of effort to make a difference – it takes a community. He is both a donor to New Jersey Audubon and a member of our Board of Directors, giving his time and financial support to advance our conservation and education work. “It’s a combination of effort, desire, involvement, and the encouragement of my wife Jackie and family, who love the center,” he asserts. “Then the education spreads to a whole new generation, and that’s what we want to do.” These beliefs were instilled in Joe at a young age through his family, hardworking people who gave back throughout their lives. “Hard work is always what we did,” Joe stated.

We are grateful to our good neighbors, Joe Basralian and the Winifred M. and George P. Pitkin Foundation, who have done so much for Lorrimer Sanctuary and for New Jersey Audubon’s mission to inspire and empower people to care for nature throughout New Jersey and beyond. We anticipate that through their generosity, many more neighbors will discover this “hidden gem” in northern New Jersey and be enlightened for years to come. “Lorrimer has been a diamond in the rough,” as Joe reminded us, “and now we are turning it into a diamond.”