Henrik Krogius, 87, Greenbelt Champion
Henrik Krogius, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, writer, and producer for television news who was instrumental in preserving the Poxabogue area of Sagaponack, died at home in Brooklyn Heights on Oct. 4. He was 87 and had prostate cancer, his family said.
Having owned a home in Sagaponack since 1965, he became interested in the area that would later become the Long Pond Greenbelt when, in 1973, Fred C. Topping died, leaving 28 acres on the shores of Poxabogue Pond. A developer planned to build 16 houses there, but with the help of Barbara (Babby) French, Mr. Krogius and his wife, Elaine Taylor Krogius, lobbied town and county legislators, resulting in the county’s condemnation of the land and the creation of Poxabogue County Park.
The Long Pond Greenbelt, consisting of ponds, woods, and wetlands from Sag Harbor to Bridgehampton and Sagaponack, was formed. Mr. Krogius and his wife were honored as the first “champions of the greenbelt” by the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt in 2008. The two also served on the board of the Group for the East End for several years.
Mr. Krogius had a 27-year career as a writer and producer for NBC News and its affiliate in the city. In 1977, he won an Emmy Award for best local news program for his work on the 11 o’clock news, for which he was the producer for about eight years. He worked with such broadcast luminaries as Mike Wallace, Frank McGee, Edwin Newman, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, and Chuck Scarborough, his family said.
He was the editor of The Brooklyn Heights Press & Cobble Hill News for 22 years, during which time he was actively involved in the coverage of the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge Park along the East River. With Joanne Witty he wrote “Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Dying Waterfront Transformed,” a book that came out in September. He retired from The Press in 2013.
A native of Finland, Mr. Krogius was born on March 26, 1929, in Tampere to Helge Krogius and the former Valborg Antell. He grew up in Finland and New York, and went on to study architecture at Harvard College, graduating in 1951. He served as a lieutenant in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953 and then studied at the Columbia School of Journalism, graduating a year later. He received a Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship from Columbia and reported as a freelancer from Europe, Asia, and Africa from 1954 to 1956.
He was an award-winning photographer and the author of the 2003 book “New York, You’re a Wonderful Town! Fifty-Plus Years of Chronicling Gotham,” a graphic portrayal of the city through his photographs.
His wife of 51 years survives him, as do his sons, Sven Krogius of Brooklyn and Tor Krogius of Northampton, Mass. A brother, Tristan Krogius of Laguna Beach, Calif., and two grandchildren also survive.
A service will be held at Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights on Nov. 5 at 11 a.m., the Rev. Anne Richards officiating.