Scott and Hella McVay of Princeton will be honored for their longtime support of land conservation on Thursday, May 16, at New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s annual gala.

The event, to be held at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton Township, will celebrate NJ Conservation’s land preservation and stewardship efforts throughout New Jersey, including those aimed at protecting native flora and fauna, and greening urban areas. The theme of the gala is “Inspired by Nature.”

The McVays were chosen as this year’s honorees for their enthusiastic leadership in promoting a wide range of causes, including conservation, environmental stewardship, animal welfare, the arts, science, and education.

“For decades, Scott and Hella McVay have been amazing champions of New Jersey Conservation Foundation, as well as many other organizations,” said Alison Mitchell, co-executive director. “They’re passionate about both nature and the arts, and their enthusiasm ignites others to share in those passions. They’re an inspiration for all who strive to make a positive impact in this world.”

Scott is a poet, naturalist and philanthropist who has directed or served on the boards of many institutions, including the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, the Smithsonian, the Chautauqua Institution, the Earth Policy Institute, and Grounds For Sculpture. As Founding Executive Director of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, he created the biennial Dodge Poetry Festival in 1986.

As a scientific researcher, he discovered and documented the six-octave song of the Humpback whale. Nights and weekends, when he was assistant to Robert F. Goheen at Princeton University, he was making hundreds of sound spectrograms of recordings from Bermuda. After laying them out on the living room rug, Hella and Scott said, “They repeat,” simultaneously.

Hella McVay, a Berlin-born mathematician, after working in the Mathematics Library and assisting with the Journal of Symbolic Logic at Princeton University, was founding chair of the mathematics department at Stuart Country Day School. A trustee emeritus of D&R Greenway Land Trust, she was a founder of the nonprofit Whole Earth Center in Princeton in 1970 and served for many years on the board. Hella worked for years as a volunteer for Planned Parenthood in Trenton and Hamilton, receiving the Margaret Sanger Award twice.

Married for 65 years, the McVays are known for their skill at making connections between art and nature. One example is their creation of the Poetry Trail at Princeton’s Greenway Meadows Park, a one-mile path dotted with 50 poetry signs – by 25 women and 25 men from a dozen lands and cultures - relating to nature.

As you look at the natural world,” they say, “in all its variability, connectedness and diversity, it’s just one miracle after another.”

The gala includes cocktails, dinner, music and a live auction of unique trips and experiences. Tickets are $500 a person, and are available at tinyurl.com/NJCF2024gala. Proceeds from the gala will support New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s land preservation, advocacy and stewardship efforts throughout the state.

For more information about gala tickets and sponsorships, contact Bo Humphrey, Director of Development and Major Gifts, at bo.humphrey@njconservation.org.

About New Jersey Conservation Foundation

New Jersey Conservation Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization devoted to preserving land and protecting nature throughout New Jersey's rural, suburban, and urban landscapes for the benefit of all. Since 1960, we have preserved more than 140,000 acres of open space, farmland, and parks. We also manage 17 nature preserves, conduct public outreach and education programs, and advocate for sensible land use and climate policies that will protect the health of New Jersey communities for generations to come. For more information, go to www.njconservation.org.

About Grounds For Sculpture

Grounds For Sculpture is a sculpture park, museum and arboretum founded by the late artist and philanthropist Seward Johnson. Outdoors, nearly 300 contemporary sculptures are sited across 42 landscaped acres. Indoors, temporary exhibitions from established and emerging artists are featured in six galleries. Grounds For Sculpture opened in 1992 on the site of the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds in Hamilton Township.