County park will become lasting tribute to Ted Stiles

Baldpate Mountain tract is about 1,000 acres and includes the highest point above sea level in Mercer County

By John Tredrea
   The county park known as Baldpate Mountain will have a new name soon:"The Ted Stiles Preserve at Baldpate Mountain."
   The change was announced to rousing cheers Saturday afternoon by Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes at a memorial celebration for Dr. Stiles, who died March 7.
   Attended by over 500 people, the celebration was held in a huge white tent on the grounds of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association in Hopewell Township.
   "Even while Ted was fighting for his life, he was working on open space preservation projects," Mr. Hughes said. "The preservation of Baldpate Mountain was noteworthy in that it was an extremely difficult proposal to put together. It took a person whose expertise was second to none. It took Ted."
   Located in northwestern Hopewell Township, the soon-to-be-renamed Baldpate Mountain tract is about 1,000 acres and includes the highest point above sea level in Mercer County. A commanding view of the Delaware River and surrounding countryside can be had from its top.
   John Watson, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said, "It is absolutely fitting to name a mountain, to name the highest point in Mercer County, after such a giant as Ted Stiles."
   Dr. Stiles, a professor of botany at Rutgers, was longtime president of the Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, an environmental group involved in the preservation of thousands of acres of open space during the past 20 years. Dr. Stiles also was a top Watershed official and chairman of the county’s Open Space Commission.
   John Jackson of Pennington, a longtime Friends member, said Dr. Stiles was a key player in the preservation of 70 tracts totaling 3,500 acres in Hopewell Valley. "That’s about 10 percent of Hopewell Township," Mr. Jackson said.
   "Ted had a deep voice and he spoke with confidence, but I never heard him raise it to make a point. He was respectful and modest; he spoke highly of all the people he dealt with, whether he was able to come to terms with them or not. The calmness and serenity displayed are evidence of a life well-lived," Mr. Jackson added.
   The memorial celebration was held near the Watershed’s headquarters, off Titus Mill Road. So many people came that a shuttle bus brought visitors to the event from a parking garage at Bristol-Myers Squibb, on the other side of Titus Mill Road.
   Among the many speakers were Dr. Stiles’ brother Bill Stiles, his widow Michele Stiles Byers, his daughter Kaelyn Stiles and son Ben Stiles. Introducing the speakers was a close friend of Dr. Stiles, Michael Catania.
   "Ted was the closest thing to a Renaissance man that I ever met," Mr. Catania said. "His was a life that was fully and well-lived. He was passionate about his family and his work. Ted’s voice was the one that stayed in your head, because it rang so true."
   Michele Stiles Byers said: "The nine years I spent with Ted were the best of my life. He transformed me in so many ways. No one like him will ever live again on this planet."
   Ben Stiles said of his late father: "As far as I know, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. As a role model, I couldn’t have asked for a better man."
   "My dad was a teddy bear," Kaelyn Stiles said. "I’ve never gotten better advice from anyone than I did from him. I think what set my dad apart was that, not only did he have a vision, but he was able to put that vision into action."
   Congressman Rush Holt read aloud a statement he also had read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. The statement "marks the passing of one of the most important environmentalists in New Jersey and in the country. He advanced our understanding of ecology."
   A Hopewell Township resident, Congressman Holt, who said Dr. Stiles was instrumental in persuading him to run for Congress, added, "What distinguished Dr. Stiles was his ability to make people want to do things that were for the general good. All kinds of people – landowners, officials, residents, scientists. He made this country a better place. We can learn a lot from him and his approach to life."