Arthur Fawcett Jr.; Lawyer Led Parks And Boating Groups

Arthur "Chip" Fawcett Jr., 79, a leader in parks and recreation in the Washington area for almost 50 years, died of pneumonia Nov. 23 at George Washington University Hospital.

An enthusiastic outdoorsman and lover of water and green space, he was president of Washington Parks & People since helping to found it 12 years ago. The longest-serving president of the Potomac Boat Club, he helped get rowing established on the Anacostia River, opened his group's membership to non-whites and women, and fought attempts to build a freeway and bridge over the waterway.

"He never did anything because it looked good or sounded good, but only if it was genuinely the good and right thing to do," said Steve Coleman, executive director of Washington Parks & People.

Mr. Fawcett was born in Plainfield, N.J., and moved with his family to Annapolis, where his father founded a ship supply store bearing the family name. Like his father, Mr. Fawcett graduated from Princeton University and rowed on the university's team. He served in the Navy during the Korean War, then received a master's degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina in 1956. He became rowing coach at George Washington University while working for the predecessor agency of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Rowing is like a disease; once you've caught it, it's hard to get rid of," he told a Washington Post sportswriter in 1958 as he prepared to take his crew to the Henley Regatta in Philadelphia, nine years after he himself had rowed there.

Mr. Fawcett became chief of advance planning for the National Capital Planning Commission and received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1981. He joined the city's Department of Recreation and Parks in 1983 as the administrator of policy planning and evaluation, a post he held until 1991.

Over the years, he was a technical adviser on a project on Guyana sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University Joint Center for Urban Studies. He also helped plan a new city in Venezuela. Closer to home, he developed the first master plan for Anne Arundel County, which is still in use after 40 years, his wife said.

After leaving city government, Mr. Fawcett opened a law firm with his second wife and formed the Friends of District of Columbia Parks and Recreation, which he ran for six years. In 1998, the group joined with Friends of Meridian Hill to form Washington Parks & People, and he became the organization's president.

Under his leadership, the group rejuvenated Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park in Columbia Heights, Marvin Gaye Park near the city's easternmost point and Oxon Run Park in far Southeast. It also opened two community centers and mobilized more than 100,000 volunteers.

As a lawyer, Mr. Fawcett worked on planning, zoning and land development issues and public interest cases, advocating for special-needs children and the elderly. Six years ago, he said his firm handled more than 500 cases involving disabled children, many of them from low-income families, in the D.C. public school system. "Virtually none of these children would have received adequate education services if they had not been represented by lawyers," he said.

He was a member of the Committee of 100 for the Federal City and the Cosmos Club.

His marriage to Karen Fawcett ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Myrna Fawcett of Washington and Annapolis; a son from his first marriage, Miles Fawcett of Washington; a sister; and two grandchildren.