Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, MD
Honoree Profile
Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, MD is a passionate and longtime advocate for New York State Parks.
A resident of Pleasantville, Dr. Waletzky served as Chair of the Taconic Regional Parks Commission from 2004 until her retirement in 2022. She also served as Chair of the New York State Council of Parks. In this role, she proudly followed in the footsteps of her father, Laurance S. Rockefeller, and her brother, Larry, who was a long-serving and active Palisades Commissioner.
Dr. Waletzky is an environmentalist and philanthropist who worked diligently to preserve the northeast corner of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Westchester. She donated 84 acres to New York State in 2003 and, in addition, donated 10 acres to Westchester County, which expanded public parking for those using the North County Trailway bike path.
Steadfast in her commitment to expand and preserve, in 2009, Dr. Waletzky provided the private funds needed to convert an 80-year-old historic schoolhouse into a new State Parks headquarters for the Taconic Region. This use of private dollars for public purposes enabled the adaptive reuse of an historic building and a commitment to rehabilitate the building in an environmentally-sound manner.
In 2010, Dr. Waletzky was among the founders of the Alliance for New York State Parks, a program of the Open Space Institute – an initiative devoted to the restoration, maintenance and support of State parks. She has been a supporter of numerous projects in various parks and regions of New York State.
Dr. Waletzky is a physician/psychiatrist and a graduate of Wellesley College and Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. As a psychiatrist, she was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University Hospital, where she published numerous articles.
Currently, Dr. Waletzky serves on the board of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Grassroots Environmental Education Center. A staunch environmentalist, she is a past board member of the National Audubon Society.
