McClary honored for environmental work

The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF) said Marion McClary, professor and chairman of the department of biological sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University, will receive the first Green and Healthy Places Leadership Award at the organization’s inaugural Community Changemaker Night.

The event will honor community leaders who have made significant contributions to the betterment of life in North Jersey. It will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 5 at Forte Ristorante, 160 Prospect Ave., Hackensack

McClary, a resident of West Milford, will be honored for his work protecting the environment. He is active with several organizations, serving on the Hackensack River Nation Council and Steering Committee, the Hackensack Environmental Justice Alliance, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Endangered and Nongame Species Advisory Committee, the NY/NJ Harbor & Estuary Program Science and Technical Advisory Committee, the Urban Coast Institute Advisory Committee, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation Environmental Advisory Board, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions Advisory Council, and the Hackensack River Greenway Advisory Board.

As a behavioral/physiological ecologist, he has received grant money to study the effects of pollutants on detritus on which animals in the Hackensack Meadowlands feed and to study the effectiveness of sediment caps in isolating pollutants from the water of Kearny Marsh.

McClary received a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Richard Stockton State College of New Jersey, now Stockton University, and his doctorate in zoology from Duke University.

Other award recipients are state Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese, D-36, with the Creative Communities Award; South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum with the Visionary Leadership Award; and Gina Wilson and Lisa De Dominicis, advisors to the Andrea Tilbian Halejian Memorial Fund, with the Belonging and Opportunity Award.