Ann Meyers

This week the family of the late Ann L. Meyers received the 35th annual R. Emmet Doherty Clean Air Award in recognition for the outstanding work she did to educate the public about ozone pollution at a Lehigh Valley/Berks Clean Air Partnership meeting at Hercules Cement in Northampton County.

The Department of Environmental Protection, American Lung Association of Pennsylvania and Women’s Club of Allentown joined in the presentation.

“Ann was committed to cleaning up the air here in the Lehigh Valley and everywhere across Pennsylvania,” DEP Northeast Regional Air Quality Manager Thomas DiLazaro said. “Her tireless efforts in promoting the clean air partnerships throughout Pennsylvania and her good humor and enthusiasm make her an especially worthy recipient of this year’s R. Emmet Doherty Clean Air Award.”

“To Ann, educating the public and businesses about how they can cleanup the air wasn’t a job, it was a vocation,” said former DEP Secretary David E. Hess. “Her talents, creativity and enthusiasm will be missed.”

Ann Meyers, who died unexpectedly in November 2004, was principal of Ann L. Meyers Public Relations and a consultant to the Lehigh Valley/Berks, Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southwestern Pennsylvania and Susquehanna Valley air quality partnerships.

She helped to develop many of the promotional and educational materials used by the partnerships, and assisted the Lehigh Valley/Berks Clean Air Partnership initiate the Ride Free on Ozone Action Days Program in Lehigh and Northampton counties. This program provides free bus rides on ozone action days to help reduce traffic during the summer months.

The Clean Air Award recognizes the efforts of a local business, organization or individual for improving air quality in the greater Lehigh Valley region. First presented in 1970, the award is named in honor of R. Emmet Doherty, a former director of the Lehigh Valley Pollution Control District who monitored air quality and championed air pollution reduction during his 19 years of service.

The R. Emmet Doherty Clean Air Award is presented in conjunction with ALA’s national Clean Air Month in May and is part of DEP’s Ozone Action Kickoff, which marks the beginning of the ground-level ozone-monitoring season in conjunction with the Lehigh Valley/Berks Air Quality Partnership.

Ann Meyers was a graduate of Thiel College in Greenville. She and her husband Howard Kelin and their four children often helped out personally during the many promotional events that she planned and initiated for the partnerships. She worked on clean air issues in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and was a frequent expert speaker on air-quality public relations at state and national conferences.

The Lehigh Valley/Berks partnership is a coalition of individuals, businesses, governments and community groups that educates the public about the dangers of ground-level ozone and encourages people to take voluntary actions to reduce their contributions to air pollution.

5/27/2005