Gary Everhardt

Gary Everhardt
9th Director of the National Park Service
In office
January 13, 1975 – May 27, 1977
PresidentRichard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Preceded byRonald H. Walker
Succeeded byWilliam J. Whalen III
Personal details
Born(1934-07-08)July 8, 1934
Lenoir, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedDecember 27, 2020(2020-12-27) (aged 86)
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.[1]
SpouseNancy Everhardt
ChildrenKaren Everhardt
Phil Everhardt
OccupationNaturalist, Director of the National Park Service

Gary E. Everhardt (July 8, 1934 – December 27, 2020),[2] was the ninth Director of the US National Park Service (NPS). He began his NPS career as an engineer in 1957 and rose to the superintendency of Grand Teton National Park in 1972. Favorable notice there propelled him to the directorship in January 1975. As director he oversaw a great increase in park development and interpretive programming for the Bicentennial of the American Revolution. The return of an NPS careerist to the job was much applauded by park employees and supporters, but Everhardt's leadership fell short of expectations, and the new Carter administration returned him to the field as Blue Ridge Parkway's superintendent in May 1977.

  1. ^ Chávez, Karen (December 29, 2020). "Gary Everhardt dies at 86 of COVID-19: Longtime Blue Ridge Parkway leader, director of NPS". The Asheville Citizen Times. Everhardt, a former director of the National Park Service and the superintendent of the parkway from 1977-2000, died Dec. 27 in Charlotte at age 86.
  2. ^ "Former director Gary Everhardt dies at 86". Morganton.com | The News Herald. Retrieved December 29, 2020. Everhardt was born on July 8, 1934, in Lenoir.