Contact: Keith Nix
214-953-9354
Nov. 22, 2002
Friends of the Katy Trail Raises $500,000 for Knox Street Plaza
The Family of David Nathan Meyerson donates $250,000
The Friends of the Katy Trail, a non-profit organization founded to design, construct and manage
what is growing into a $23 million, 30-acre City of Dallas park, announces it has raised more than
$500,000 through a special Capital Campaign for a plaza to the north and south of the Knox Street
entrance to the popular Katy Trail. Construction of the plaza, as well as extensions to the Katy Trail to the
north and south, are expected to begin in spring 2003.
Marlene, Marti and Morton H. Meyerson were the largest donors, pledging a $250,000 gift for the
plaza, in memory of their son and brother, David Nathan Meyerson, for whom the plaza will be named
pending Dallas Park Board approval.
“When we looked at what the Friends of the Katy Trail were proposing for the Knox Street plaza
and thought about David’s life and how he enjoyed the area, it was a perfect fit,” said Morton Meyerson.
“We are happy to support this project and are pleased to collaborate with the Friends organization
in the creation of an urban gathering space,” commented Marlene Meyerson.
The Knox Street Plaza Capital Campaign was chaired by Naomi Aberly. In addition to the
$250,000 from the Meyerson family, giving levels included: $40,000 from Sam Wyly/Ranger
Foundation; $25,000 from Ann and Lee Hobson, Naomi Aberly and Larry Lebowitz, and Catherine and
Will Rose; $15,000 from Kathy and Harlan Crow, Luke’s Locker and Travis Walk; $10,000 from Brooke
and Frank Aldridge, the Don Carty family, the Einspruch family, Nancy and Tim Hanley, Perry Pate,
Cathy Freeman Phillips, the Howard Rachofsky Family, Sarah and Kurt Rathjen, the Rosewood
Foundation, the Snyder Foundation, Stacey Snyder and Arnold Verbeek, and Lambert Landscape Co.
Sally Warren and Jeffery Jackson gave $7,000. The $5,000 level includes Nancy and Clint
Carlson, Marguerite and Robert Hoffman, The Junior League of Dallas Garden Committee, Ann and
Chris Mahowald, Glenn Solomon, and Jill and Ken Tananbaum. June Mattingly gave $ 2,500; Nita and
Cullum Clark gave $2,000; Karen and Richard Pollock gave $1,200; Jolie and Bart Humphrey, and Mary
Catherine and David Huffines each gave $1,000; Regen and Jeff Fearon gave $500; and Suzanne and
Ansel Aberly gave $250.
“We couldn’t be happier with the success of the Knox Street campaign,” said Philip Henderson,
president of the Friends of the Katy Trail.
Capital Campaign chair is Don Lucas. Cabinet members include Walter Humann, Margaret
McDermott, Rusty Rose, and Gifford Touchstone. The Advisory Board is Peggy Oglesby Allison, Paul
Bass, Louis Beecherl, Plack Carr, Robert Carrozza, Trammell S. Crow, Lyda Hunt Hill, Edmund
Hoffman, Barron Kidd, Tom Luce, Kay McCord, Morton H. Meyerson, J.C. Montgomery, Katherine
Perot Flanagan, and Joel T. Williams, Jr.
The Friends of the Katy Trail is a non-profit organization created to raise money for the design,
construction, maintenance and security of the Katy Trail. The Katy Trail is the linear park running
through the densest part of Dallas connecting 125 acres of interrupted urban parkland with more than
300,000 residents living within a mile of the Park. Through capital campaigns, the co-operation of city,
county, state and federal funding agencies, and a general membership of more than 650, the Friends of the
Katy Trail is creating a great American park in the heart of Dallas.
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