Lester A. Picker

Lester A. Picker is an American freelance writer, author and photojournalist.

Early life

Picker was born on October 24, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, the second child of Martin Picker and Bertha Javer Picker. Martin Picker was born in Warsaw, Poland and became an American citizen in 1929. Bertha Javer Picker was born on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to Austrian immigrant parents.

Career

Picker graduated James Madison High School in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology and secondary education from City College of New York. While teaching high school biology and environmental sciences in Rockland, Maine, he concurrently earned his Master’s degree. He left secondary education to earn his doctoral degree in environmental affairs (winter ecology) from 1975-78 from the University of Maine at Orono. While at the university, he assumed an active role in developing the burgeoning field of marine studies and was appointed to the faculty in 1977.

After earning his doctorate, Picker was named the Director of the North Carolina Marine Resources Center on Roanoke Island, a public aquarium and research facility on the Outer Banks. He was recruited by the University of Delaware to become Director of Project COAST and head of Science Education, where he was jointly appointed to the College of Marine Studies and the College of Education. He was the recipient of numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. He was also a founder of the National Marine Education Association and editor of its professional journal.

Picker left the university to start his own consulting company, offering charitable giving and management counsel to nonprofit organizations, corporations and wealthy individuals. He was recruited as a weekly business columnist by "The Baltimore Sun", where he authored more than 250 columns and articles over five years. He also developed a graduate course in nonprofit studies for The Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, where he taught for several years.

Writing and photographic credits

In 1996, Picker sold both his consulting company and a publishing company to focus full-time on writing and photography. Picker has more than 550 writing and photo credits in National Geographic Society publications, "Better Homes & Gardens", Forbes, Time, Inc. Publications, "Money", "Fortune Small Business", "Bloomberg Personal Finance", "National Parks", and dozens of other publications. He is a former newspaper reporter and editor. For three years Picker was a columnist for "Oceans Magazine" and for four years was Editor-In-Chief for a national environmental journal. Picker’s photography has also appeared in National Geographic publications and other magazines and newspapers. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors [ASJA] (http://www.asja.org/).

Aside from being a weekly business columnist for "The Baltimore Sun", Picker continued as a freelance Op-Ed and feature travel writer. He wrote a chapter for a John Wiley & Sons' business handbook (1997). For three years, Picker was a regular business commentator on National Public Radio's Marketplace, carried on 260 stations nationwide. He co-authored a book about macular degeneration with Bert Glaser, M.D., published by Addicus Books (2001). He contributed a chapter to the "ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing" (St. Martin’s Press, 2003). He is currently working on novels.

Picker is also a public speaker. He continues to add to his stock photos of travel destinations, landscapes and wildlife.

External links

Lester Picker’s writing website (http://www.lesterpicker.com)

Lester Picker’s photography website (http://www.lesterpickerphotography.com)

American Society of Journalists and Authors (http://www.ASJA.org)