Blogs > Keeping Current > Riverkeeper mourns the passing of Cecil Corbin-Mark, an environmental justice giant

Riverkeeper mourns the passing of Cecil Corbin-Mark, an environmental justice giant

Cecil Corbin-Mark

Photo courtesy WE ACT for Environmental Justice
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Corbin-Mark ‘was a brilliant voice of knowledge, experience, reason, and truth’

Cecil Corbin-Mark

Photo courtesy WE ACT for Environmental Justice


We at Riverkeeper are heartbroken by the loss of Cecil Corbin-Mark, a longtime friend, trusted advisor, and environmental justice giant, who passed away on October 15th. Cecil’s life was way too short, but in 51 years it was also full of remarkable accomplishments. Cecil served as Deputy Director and Director of Policy Initiatives at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, working for WE ACT for 26 years. He helped to shape the landscape of New York City and State law and policy, environmental justice, and health and environmental protections for decades past and future. 

During his incredible career, Cecil’s dedication to his North Harlem community, New York City and State, and beyond was clear in everything he did. As was his commitment to justice and ensuring the participation of Black and brown people in critical conversations and decisions that affected their lives and communities. Whether working to bring community-based solar energy to West Harlem, centering environmental justice in New York’s landmark climate law the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act or lobbying to ensure state environmental funding flowed to environmental justice communities, Cecil did it all with compassion, humor, and impeccable style. 

Cecil generously served on Riverkeeper’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee, providing kind and also stern insights and advice to our nascent committee as we set out in this complex and continuous work. He cautioned us to expect many failures, some potentially large, and also counseled that we would not be judged by those stumbles, but rather by if and how we got back up from them. He reminded us about this work being forever and charged us to know what we were committing to and to fully embrace it.

Cecil was a brilliant voice of knowledge, experience, reason, and truth. He told it like it was, and brought important and difficult issues to the forefront in every discussion he joined. Riverkeeper as an organization, and many of us personally, will forever miss his sage counsel, his incredible laugh, and the way he pushed and challenged us to do more and better work. May his memory and life motivate all of us to do more to fight for justice for Black, brown, indigenous, and communities of color and to uplift and amplify the voices of the frontline and marginalized in our communities and beyond. 

We send our love and condolences to his family, friends, community, and everyone at WE ACT, and pledge to do our part to keep his memory alive and to support WE ACT in their ongoing work and in honoring Cecil’s memory. We hope you will join us in supporting WE ACT by making a donation to them or to their newly founded 501c4 in Cecil’s memory.Rest in power friend. The void you’ve left will be deeply felt by many and for many years.

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