Ted First
Born Harrisburg, PA. BA University of Pennsylvania; MA Goddard College. Married Deborah First 1969; three children, 11 grandchildren. Resides in Chautauqua, NY.
Work Life: Builder specializing in the design and construction of solar, energy efficient homes and residential developments 1972 – 2009
Community Service: Founding board of State College (PA) Friends School 1980- 1987; Habitat for Humanity 1978- 2013 in State College, PA, Rochester, NY, Chautauqua County, serving as volunteer President, and construction supervisor; Pa. State Penitentiary Prison visitation program and facilitator for in- prison Alternatives to Violence Program 1982 - 1989; first Director of Community Alternatives to Criminal Justice, State College, Pa. (develop and institute alternative program integrated with local Probation Department.) 1981-1983; co-founder and Steering Committee: Go Palestine: a Ramallah Friends School summer camp for diaspora Palestinian teens 2010 - ; Chair, 2019 Chautauqua Lake Conference @Chautauqua Institution;
Board Service: Chautauqua Institution 1998 -2006; American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam 2012 - ; Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy 2017 –
Member of the Religious Society of friends (Quakers)
Free time: family travel, grandchildren, art glass, carpet design, Homeboy Industries, recorder,