THE CREATOR OF THE BULL IS DEAD AT 80
The Times has a great obit on Arturo di Modica, who created Charging Bull (as a gift to his adopted country) but also lived a downtown life: his studio was on Grand Street and his first significant show was in Battery Park in 1977. Turns out di Modica, who spent $300k building the bull in 1987, sold it in the ’90s for what some guess is $5 million to the British investor Joe Lewis, who also owns the Nexus Club on Church and Barclay, on the condition that it never be moved. Of course the city has other plans.

A FOUNDER OF HUDSON RIVER PARK DIES AT 93
The Times has another inspiring obit of Ross Graham — and I have to add this is personal, since she was among my dearest friends and a great mentor — who was one of the founding forces behind Hudson River Park as well as a fierce and longtime advocate for women’s, tenants and civil rights. She was also the first woman to wear pants on the floor of the New York State Senate Chamber. She lived in Chelsea independently until her death, in the same apartment she first rented in the late ’60s, and swam at the Chelsea Piers well into her 80s.

She showed me the ropes when I joined Community Board 4 in 1992, setting an example of a woman who got things done with reason, smarts and good humor. In a 1995 profile in The Times, they called her the “consummate horse trader.” She was appointed to the board of the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the precursor to the Trust, in 1996 and later went on to found the Friends of Hudson River Park, chairing it with the developer Douglas Durst for many years. Of course I mention her here because of the gift she gave all of us Westsiders with Hudson River Park.