Andy Kessler dies

Skateboarding pioneer Andy Kessler dies in Montauk

August 13, 2009 By CARL MACGOWAN carl.macgowan@newsday.com

Photo credit: Getty Images | Andy Kessler, right, and pro skateboarder Tony Alva attend the opening of the “Lords Of Dogtown” Art Collection at The Lounge Soho. (June 2, 2005)

When Andy Kessler started skateboarding with friends in the 1970s, there was no legitimate place in New York City to ride their boards.

They risked police ire by skating in Central Park and propped up wooden planks to turn apartment complexes into makeshift skate parks.

Kessler, who died Monday after suffering a heart attack following an allergic reaction to a wasp sting in Montauk, became a kind of Pied Piper for the sport he loved – building skate parks in the city and on Long Island while mentoring young skaters.

“He was kind of known as the godfather of skateboarding in New York City,” said his friend, Moose Huerta, 30, of Brooklyn.

Kessler, 48, of Manhattan, was stung Monday as he worked on the deck of the cottage where he was staying, Huerta said. He died en route to Southampton Hospital, Huerta said.

Surfers plan to paddle off Ditch Plains in Montauk Friday night in tribute, friends said Thursday.

Kessler, who was born in Greece, was adopted by a New York City couple and raised on the Upper West Side. He was part of an underground community of graffiti artists and skateboarders who skated in playgrounds and empty pools.

“He’s the elder statesman,” said Tony Farmer, 40, of Brooklyn. “He’s the cat that was there the longest, and he was there at the beginning and he always stayed true.”

In a video on YouTube, Kessler said he dropped out of college because skateboarding was all he wanted to do. “We always need to step outside of our own limitations,” he said. “You see somebody else and what they’re able to do, and it’ll help you to push it one step further.”