Friends of the North Leverett was founded in 2022 by a group of people who live within two miles of the Sawmill and enjoy its beauty every day. We come from many backgrounds. Some were born here, others have come recently; some have taught in the area’s wonderful schools, others run businesses from their homes; some just want to help. All of us love this beautiful reminder of Leverett's industrial past and want to see the mill become a vibrant part of our community once again. 

PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
Donald A. Robinson, PhD, PE, CSP, ARM-E 

Donald Robinson is a Registered Professional Engineer, Certified Safety Professional, and Associate in Risk Management with five decades of experience assessing and mitigating a broad range of risks. Don has worked in both industry and academia as an engineer, administrator, and faculty member, with a focus on many aspects of safety management and engineering, such as occupational safety, chemical safety, disposal of hazardous material, fire prevention, radiation safety, and biological safety. He has served as an expert witness in cases that involve issues of machine guarding, product liability, and the root cause of injuries and illnesses. 

TREASURER & FOUNDER 
Susan Lynton 

Susan Lynton is a writer and former business development executive whose global marketing career included senior roles overseeing new technology at IBM and British Telecom. Susan wrote and produced documentaries and public affairs programming for networks including CNBC Europe, and worked as a screenwriter and program developer for A&E, Time Warner, Nickelodeon, PBS, and Procter & Gamble. She also founded a nonprofit that worked with the French and U.S. governments to promote cross-cultural understanding amongst disadvantaged youth. Susan was a founding member of the Coalition of Professional Women in Arts and Media, a board member of New York Women in Film and Television, and chair of the Westport Writers’ Workshop. She has received three Cine Gold Eagle awards, a Highest Leaf Award from the Women’s Venture Fund, and numerous federal and state grants. She currently serves on the Town of Leverett’s Historical Commission and is at work on her third novel.

SECRETARY & FOUNDER
Cynthia L. Baldwin, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus

Cynthia Baldwin has been an educator at the university level for more than 30 years. She has trained undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students in science fields, and written, been awarded, and managed numerous federally-funded research grants. Working in Africa, she advised the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development on the effect of animal and zoonotic infectious diseases and vaccines on food security. She has also served on expert panels for the White House and the National Academy. Cynthia was on the Leverett Zoning Board for many years and is currently a member of the Leverett Board of Health.

DIRECTOR & FOUNDER
Samuel J. Black, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus 

Samuel Black has been a university educator for more than 30 years, a researcher in African trypanosomiasis for more than 40 years, and a researcher in equine laminitis for 15 years. He established and directed the Immunobiology and Flow Cytometry Facility at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases in Nairobi for 10 years, and headed the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Massachusetts for 10 years. He has received and managed grants from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USAID, Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Morris Animal Foundation. Sam has also served on expert panels of the World Health Organization and the US Department of Agriculture. Locally, he serves on the Leverett Board of Assessors.

DIRECTOR
Dale A. Frank, Founder & President, Dale A. Frank Financial Group

Dale Frank is the founder and president of Dale A. Frank Financial Group. He is passionate about providing financial strategies that help clients take steps toward their retirement dreams. Over three decades ago, Dale had a vision that he would someday help clients learn to balance risk with reasonable rates of return in order to keep more of their hard-earned investment capital. He founded Dale A. Frank Financial Group based on this conservative philosophy, and now, he and his fellow professionals use their years of experience to help their clients gain confidence in their financial futures.

DIRECTOR & FOUNDER
Patricia G. Fiero

Pat Fiero is a former state legislator who has been involved in community development initiatives for over 50 years. Pat managed campaigns for the Massachusetts Legislature, including two of her own in 1984, and was the senate district coordinator for Gov. Michael Dukakis’ successful run in 1982. She received multiple Legislator of the Year awards (Alliance for Young Families, MA Association of Vocational Administrators, HealthQuarters -Dorothy Bradford Award, MA Association of School Committees, and the MA Healthy Start Coalition) and served as the New England Regional Coordinator for MoveOn’s Council System. As head of the Housing Development Department at Housing Assistance Corporation on Cape Cod, Pat managed numerous low-income housing programs and developments. Locally, she has been a member of the Franklin County Regional Planning Board, the Democratic Town Committee (elected), the board of the Leverett Coop, and Hands Across the Hills. She is a founding member of the Leverett Alliance.

DIRECTOR
Bob Jablonski

Bob Jablonski worked in the building business for 20 years, seven of which he spent building custom post and beam homes. He is skilled in a broad range of tasks across different trades and has a special interest in rehabilitating the historic North Leverett sawmill because his father and brother both worked there in the 1970s.

DIRECTOR
Linda Jablonski, RN, MSN

Linda (Field) Jablonski is a native of Leverett whose family’s roots trace back to 1760. Linda worked as an obstetrical RN at Baystate Franklin Medical Center for 38 years. She helped found and co-chair the Franklin County Perinatal Support Coalition, composed of 20 organizations whose mission is to collaborate care across systems to promote perinatal mental health. In 2018, she was awarded a federal grant and developed a comprehensive program to support pregnant women with substance addictions in Franklin County. The federally funded program has gained state and national attention and has become a model for the state. Upon retirement, Linda received the “Diop award” recognizing her commitment to improving care, outcomes, and experiences for families impacted by substance use and promoting health equity through partnership, collaboration, and quality improvement.

DIRECTOR & FOUNDER
Susan Mareneck

Susan Mareneck is an artist, educator, curator, and historian who has a long association with the contemporary and historical culture and landscape of the Sawmill River Valley, specifically in and around North Leverett. While living in Lower Manhattan for 30 years, Susan was a founding member of the Committee for the Preservation of the Washington Market and Tribeca Community Association, and helped to create and receive landmark designation for the Tribeca Historic Districts. As head of an Art Department that covered all K-12th grades, she guided the development, implementation, and evaluation of place-based, institutional-specific curricula. She is also experienced at curating exhibitions and researching and writing catalogues. Susan currently chairs the Leverett Historical Commission.

DIRECTOR
Steven Stroud

Steve Stroud was born and raised in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. An illustrator for over 25 years, Steve has done covers of countless bestsellers, including those by Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, and John Sanford. His covers of Firestarter and Cujo are considered iconic. He has done special editions of works by Pearl Buck, John Cheever, William Faulkner, Joseph Heller, Joyce Carol Oates, and William Styron. His many corporate accounts have included Fortune 500 companies and the Department of Defense. Steve’s love of landscape and figurative painting led to a second career. His work is in the permanent collection of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and hundreds of private collections. A past President of the Society of Illustrators, he currently serves as a director of the Henry Carter Foundation and Leverett Craft and Arts.

FOUNDER
Sidney J. Poritz, M.F.A., Ed.D., B.B.A (in memoriam)

Sid Poritz was a historic restoration developer and art educator who taught at Skidmore College, UMASS, and the Metropolitan, Whitney, and Brooklyn art museums. Sid was involved in three multi-unit historic preservation projects using the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. His development of period houses at Chestnut Hill included negotiations with the Rattlesnake Gutter Trust (a land preservation trust in Leverett) and the Conservation Commission of the Town of Leverett to make designs embedded in the natural environment with houses representative of the colonial period. Sid served on the Leverett Planning Commission for fourteen years and was a trustee at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in Hadley, Massachusetts.

FOUNDER
Sara L. Robinson, Ed.D. 

Sara Robinson is a master educator with a strong background in educational programming and a focus on students diagnosed with ADHD and high-functioning autism. Sara developed programs for the Bement School, a private primary and middle school, that capitalized on its location within Historic Deerfield, a restored village dating to the 1600s. Through this work, students learned to conduct research in the humanities, including the historical significance of homes within Historic Deerfield, and write reports on their findings. Sara also founded a private school to provide active learning and a computer-based curriculum for students who have differing learning styles. She has served as president of the Leverett Historical Society and worked on both preservation and collaborative programming at the Moore’s Corner one-room schoolhouse, the Field Family Museum, and the North Leverett Sawmill. 

Friends

• Adam Salacuse

• Jim Perkins

• Michael R. Mareneck

• Robert H. Mareneck

• Will Melton

• Julia Shively

• Chris Carlisle

Advisory Board

• Silas Ball

• Barry Black

• Pleun Bouricius

• Harijap Fuller

• Larry LaClaire

• Bob Leet

• Kathy LeMay

• Abel Lenz

• Will Melton

• Bill Pearson

• Isaiah Robison

• Stan Rosenberg

Attorney

• Thomas R. Reidy

• Robert Spencer