Ignacio "Nash" J. Castro

Born in Arizona, Nash attended George Washington University in Washington D.C., and was elected to Phi Sigma Kappa. He served in the Pacific Theater as a naval aviator in World War II, attaining the rank of Lieutenant.

He joined the National Park Service at Grand Canyon National Park and served in Hawaii National Park and other locations. His last assignment was as regional director of the National Capital Parks, Washington, D.C.

As assistant superintendent of the National Capital Parks, he worked with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on her White House restoration program and in the founding of the White House Historical Association. Later Nash was an advisor to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson on her beautification program, accompanied her on beautification trips, and served on her First Lady’s Committee for a More Beautiful National Capital.

At Nash’s suggestion, Mrs. Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center (now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) in Austin, Texas. Nash became its founding president, serving in that role for eight years and, recently, as director emeritus. He and his wife Bette were frequent guests at the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.

After 30 years in the National Park Service, Nash retired in 1969 and joined Laurance S. Rockefeller as executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park System. In 1990, Mr. Rockefeller appointed Nash as environmental consultant on his staff, where he worked in that role until Mr. Rockefeller’s death in 2004. Nash also was a director of four Rockefeller boards, including the American Conservation Association and Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc.

Nash was chairman of the committee that built the Presidential Memorial to former President Lyndon B. Johnson; president of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society; founding (and later emeritus) member of the White House Historical Association; chairman of the America the Beautiful Fund; and first secretary of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

He held honorary doctorates from St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, N.Y., and Mount St. Mary’s College, Newburgh, N.Y. He was awarded the U.S. Interior Department’s Distinguished Service Award, in addition to other awards. He was named by the Rockland County, N.Y., Journal News as one of 25 people who most influenced the Rockland County region in the last 50 years.

Nash was married for 65 years to the late Bette Hyde Woolsey, a published poet, who passed away in 2010. He is survived by two daughters, Kim Rollings of Dallas, Texas, and Kristen Rothrock of Spartanburg, S.C.; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg, Va., on Friday, April 20 at 11am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Avenue, Austin, Texas 78739 (www.wildflower.org). Condolences for the family may be made online at www.nelsenwilliamsburg.com.