We are saddened to report that John R. Quinn, a naturalist and writer and illustrator who loved the Meadowlands, died late last month after a long illness.

In his memorable 1997 book "Fields of Sun and Grass, an Artist's Journal of the New Jersey Meadowlands," Quinn wrote that it was here that  "a truce of sorts has been declared and a compromise reached between nature and a technology that has long been estranged from it… In the Meadowlands, something of a reconciliation and healing is under way…

"If the environmental maturity and wisdom acquired here, in the management of this threatened ecosystem, are applied wherever and whenever they are desperately needed, we will, just perhaps, bequeath a livable planet to those whose lives are yet to be lived."

Quinn worked for the Meadowlands Commission as a naturalist for several years and designed the distinctive Meadowlands license plate now seen on so many vehicles in our area.

In an e-mail a few years ago, Quinn wrote that "I have nothing but fond memories of my tenure [at the Meadowlands Commission] — especially paddling then-Governor Whitman around the Mill Creek Marsh with batteries of photogs following us!

Four of Quinn's black-and-white  illustrations from "Fields of Sun and Grass" will appear in "The Nature of the Meadowlands," to be published in the fall by Schiffer books. One of those illustrations is posted above.

A link to The Record's obituary on Quinn, published today, is here.