Kessler got his start in the 1970s with a loose-knit group of skateboarders and graffiti artists known as the Soul Artists of Zoo York. They skated all over Manhattan's Upper West Side, where Kessler lived.
In the 1990s, Kessler persuaded the city's Parks Department to build a skateboard facility in Riverside Park. He also designed skate parks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island.
Kessler will be buried Sunday at Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus, N.J.
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