The Shangri La Botanical Gardens in Orange will be losing its executive director in three months. Rick Lewandowski announced Thursday on KOGT that he will be retiring from Shangri La at the end of July.
Lewandowski spent eight years with Shangri La Gardens and a total of 39 years in the field of not-for-profit public gardens. Besides the day to day responsibilities Lewandowski lead Shangri La through four storms (Harvey, Imelda, Laura and Delta) and the shutdown during the pandemic.
Lewandowski thanked the Stark Foundation for its generous support in his years as the director of the unique series of gardens in Orange. He added his tenure at the gardens has “been a really great time.”
Following his retirement Lewandowski will remain in Orange for a little while. He plans to move to southeast Pennsylvania where his daughter lives in order to spend more time chasing his grandchildren.
Visits back to the Orange area will definitely be planned in the future. “We have so many friends down here, I love southeast Texas, you’ll probably see a lot of us around town,” Lewandowski promised.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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