Deborah Masters, sculptor and early environmental advocate for Brooklyn, dies at 74

""Deb was at the forefront of a movement to force the recognition of poor communities, communities of color who were viewed as less politically powerful and were the most impacted by environmental injustice," said former City Councilmember Ken Fisher, who was introduced to Masters in the early '90s, when he represented Dumbo and Masters was living in a loft in the neighborhood."

"Back then, the environmental movement Masters was helping lead was "in its infancy," says Fisher, and those in power were hardly concerned about the air quality in the low-income neighborhoods she was campaigning for, despite them being plagued by "an extraordinary collection of environmental insults" including  an underground oil spill larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster, a lead belt and radioactive waste."

""There are so many issues in this neighborhood that need mobilizing," Masters told The New York Times in 1992, at a meeting she'd helped organize to oppose an ill-fated plan to build a garbage incinerator in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She also successfully helped fight plans to dock a floating power plant in South Williamsburg and stop the lead-paint showers caused by sandblasting-based maintenance of the Williamsburg Bridge. In the process, she assisted in the formation of a local activist coalition."

Deborah Elder Masters, born Dionysia Kokkinos, died Dec. 6 at 74 after a prolonged illness. She was a prolific sculptor and an early environmental advocate in North Brooklyn who helped spearhead activism that produced many local environmental protections. She campaigned for recognition of poor communities and communities of color facing environmental injustice, and confronted severe pollutants including an underground oil spill larger than the Exxon Valdez, a lead belt and radioactive waste. She organized opposition to a planned garbage incinerator, fought a proposed floating power plant, halted lead-paint showers from sandblasting on the Williamsburg Bridge, and helped form a local activist coalition.

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