Knox family members and friends leave state park board

Oct. 18--There are no more Knoxes on the board of the Friends of Knox Farm State Park.

Members of the family responsible for the Knox in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and founding of the Buffalo Sabres resigned Tuesday from the board that raises money for the park in East Aurora, created about 14 years ago when the family sold its century-old summer estate to the state for $5.2 million.

The emailed resignation letter underscored the unhappiness that has simmered since the board voted to replace Seymour Knox IV as its president in February and informed his mother she had only an honorary board membership.

"I don't understand it ... They are so incredibly rude. They made me an honorary member with no voice and no vote and I founded the board? Thank you very much, but no thanks," said Jean Knox, widow of Seymour Knox III, who founded the Sabres with his brother Northrup in 1970. "I think it's incredible that educated people behave that way, and I don't know what else to say."

Knox Farm State Park has become a popular public retreat with its 633 acres, walks through meadows and woods, and mansion rented out for weddings. Last year, 25,000 people visited the grand old house before and after its transformation as a Junior League Decorators' Show House, raising $300,000 for charity.

The park is also a prize that a shifting set of board members has alternately fought to control and given up on in frustration. The Knoxes say the group now in charge has made them feel like outsiders in a place that was once a family home where they got married and went for rides in the Rolls Royce with the late Seymour Knox Jr., the polo-playing heir to the Woolworth department store fortune, banker and art philanthropist.

"They have their own group, and they're running it," said Knox IV of the board majority that took over in February.

He was president for the last eight years, ever since the state asked him and his mother to start the nonprofit and become one of the 88 friends groups that help New York manage its collection of 215 state parks and historic sites. The nonprofit Friends of Knox State Park, with about 500 members, raises money with parties and events, rents out the mansion for weddings and pays for things like the newly installed commercial-grade kitchen now being used by caterers.

"I do feel it's very unfortunate that communications have broken down," said Liz O'Donnell, a board member who has acted as liaison, befriending people on both sides of the split. "Together we were all doing great things."

Last week Knox IV, his mother and the two remaining members of the Knox minority submitted a formal letter of resignation, in advance of today's annual public Friends membership meeting and board election of directors. The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at the Aurora Municipal Center. In the past year, eight board members have quit. Another pro-Knox member was removed for failure to attend meetings. The website, friendsofknoxfarm.org, listed 11 board members Friday.

In a letter emailed to the board last week, the Knoxes and two others -- Ed Rutkowski, the former county executive and parks district director, and family friend John Hatcher -- described why they left this way:

"We no longer believe it is possible to work under the present negative environment that has developed on the board over the last year or more. The lack of respect for the Knox family and their contributions to our Western New York community is no longer tolerable and has led to a level of animosity that we believe under the present board leadership is both counterproductive and damaging to the goals of a 'Friends' organization."

The split between the board and the Knox group widened this year in response to one faction's approach to changing board leadership. What followed unfolded, like a chess game, with moves, counter moves, accusations, public letters, a membership meeting and a day in court before State Supreme Court Judge Henry Nowak.

Trouble began after the annual membership meeting last October when an election of officers wasn't scheduled. Knox IV, who led the board with former Vice President Betsy Wallace, ran things informally.

When a member pressed for change and a January election, Knox IV, Wallace, board members and Knox Friends members balked at the process.

Knox IV decided to delay the vote by enlisting a lawyer to file court papers to get a judge to review the nonprofit's election procedure.

The board majority hired its own attorney with about $7,000 from Friends' accounts and produced a rebuttal.

In February when Nowak ruled in their favor, Knox IV was swiftly voted out of office. Carol Wageman, a vice president at Walsh Duffield Insurance, took over.

"I'm very sorry that Seymour decided to withdraw," said Bill Patterson, a board member, advocate for change and critic of Knox IV's move to court. "I think there were feelings that the leadership was questionable by some."

Patterson, a former Gow School headmaster, once hired Knox IV to start the school squash program. He joined four years ago despite reservations after attending a board gathering. "The meeting was a shambles," he said. "Nothing was done. It was totally unrealistic."

Knox IV described his meetings as being inclusive and admitted they did not always follow Robert's Rules of Order. He also defended his decision along with others on the board to go to court. Lawyers advised it as a way to sort things out.

"That was the advice we'd gotten," he said, "to try and keep the board solid and move forward."

Wageman was reluctant to speak at length about the ordeal. "It doesn't need to have a life of its own," she said. "It is what it is."

She said she respects the Knoxes' decision to leave and wants to focus on the next board fundraiser, a holiday art and crafts sale at the mansion the weekend before Thanksgiving.

"We thank them for their service on the board, and we move on," she said. "A lot of people believe in the park and in the good of the park, and that's what we're going to focus on."

O'Donnell, who has been leading an annual carriage race at the farm since Seymour Knox Jr. was alive, said the problems could have been solved by conversation and negotiation.

"If people had talked about it, I don't think any of this would have happened," said O'Donnell, a retired sixth-grade teacher who lives in East Aurora.

She said Knox IV's presidency was distinguished by his ambassador-like approach. He lobbied for events like the Show House and traveled the state, looking into other parks.

"He's a wonderful man," she said.

"It's just very unfortunate that it's come to this end. Every one of us has something to offer to the board," O'Donnell said. "It's a very delicate subject ... There's a lot of hard feelings."

Mark Thomas, assistant deputy commissioner of parks who oversees the western state parks, did not return calls seeking comment.

The Knoxes and past and current board members friendly to the family now say they are taking another tack to help the park, which has 23 buildings in various states of disrepair, from the stables, to a greenhouse, barns and houses.

After hosting a charity polo match that raised $21,700 for the farm and a children's cancer charity on a Saturday in July, they plan to do another match next year and try for more.

The Polo Committee, made up of disenchanted board members, would like to help restore the 1927 stables, where the second Seymour Knox and his sons kept polo ponies and housed staff for their championship-winning Aurora polo team.

"We wanted to prove ourselves to the state, to have something to stand on," said Hatcher, chairman of the committee. "This is a tale of two different management styles and philosophies."

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