News & Events
2004 Best of New York Award Dinner in “Building New York” Salute
From left, Steven R. Butler ’75, Ambassador Charles A. Gargano ’55, Daniel Libeskind, Hon Brian M. McLaughlin, City Tech Foundation Executive Director Jewel Trowers Escobar, and Roland Lewis.
The City Tech Foundation’s Best of New York Award Dinner, a major source of unrestricted funds for scholarships and student financial assistance programs, has been an annual celebration of the achievements of outstanding New Yorkers and others for nearly a quarter of a century.
This year’s dinner, hosted by foundation chair Martin Jaffe ’65 and Dinner Chair and celebrity chef Michael Lomonaco ’84, honored those who design, build and maintain the city’s architectural infrastructure. Some 350 donors, corporate and union partners, leaders of New York’s real estate and construction industries, students, faculty, staff, alumni and others guests gathered on May 24 at the Hilton New York to join in the salute. FOX News Channel anchor Julian Phillips was Master of Ceremonies and guests were royally entertained by the cast of Disney on Broadway’s The Lion King.
The honorees were internationally acclaimed architect and Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind; Ambassador Charles A. Gargano ’55, chairman of Empire State Development and vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey; Hon. Brian M. McLaughlin, New York State Assembly and president of the New York City Central Labor Council; Habitat for Humanity/New York City; and Steven R. Butler ’75, an associate with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.
In presenting the Libeskind award, CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein called his vision for Ground Zero “an icon that speaks of our vitality in the face of danger and our optimism in the aftermath of tragedy. It both memorializes those who perished there and is, in the words of his wife, Nina, ‘an optimistic reaffirmation of life.’” In accepting the award, Libeskind spoke movingly of the historical and other forces that helped inspire his master plan for the reconstruction of Ground Zero. The renowned architect first achieved worldwide prominence for his design of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which opened to critical acclaim on the very eve of the terrorist attacks on the United States.
Prominent New York City restaurateur Angelo Vivolo, presenting to his friend Ambassador Gargano, “a great New Yorker and a great American,” cited Gargano’s role in state economic development and the city’s revitalization, as well as his work as chairman of the board of the Columbus Citizens Foundation. A graduate of City Tech’s civil engineering technology program, Gargano’s distinguished career in public service followed a successful career as an engineer and principal at J.D. Posillico Engineering and Construction, one of Long Island’s largest heavy construction firms. He has served as regional director of the Association of General Contractors in America and as chairman of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers in Construction.
Amalgamated Bank President Gabriel P. Caprio lauded Assemblyman
McLaughlin’s two decades of labor movement leadership and
his support of the Consortium for Worker Education and other partnerships
with CUNY, presenting the award “on behalf of City Tech and
the 1.5 million working New Yorkers whose economic, educational,
political and civic well being you continue to champion with unsurpassed
energy and purpose.” As president of the New York City Central
Labor Council, McLaughlin presides over an umbrella organization
made up of some 400 unions representing working men and women from
virtually every trade, occupation and public and private sector
of the city’s diverse economy -- “the men and women
who both work in New York and make New York work,” Caprio
noted.
Fittingly, Habitat for Humanity/New York City, represented by
Executive Director Roland Lewis, received its award from Home
Depot Regional Vice President Jose Lopez, who told of the organization’s
origins in the unselfish financial divestiture of a wealthy Georgia
couple who sold everything they owned and gave the proceeds to
the poor. Since the local affiliate’s establishment in
1984, Lopez explained, “it has made the dream of home ownership
a reality for nearly 100 New York City families. Through volunteer
labor and tax-deductible donations of money and materials, Habitat
builds or rehabilitates decent homes with the help of the future
homeowners. Habitat homes are sold to partner families at no
profit and financed with affordable, no-interest loans. Instead
of a financial down payment, homeowners invest hundreds of hours
of volunteer labor on their own homes and the homes of other
family partners.”
Steven R. Butler ‘75, a graduate of the College’s Department of Architectural Technology and currently a member of both its faculty and academic advisory commission, received the Distinguished Alumni Award for his work on the UN Capital Master Plan, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center’s new diagnostic treatment facility, the Times Square Tower at 42nd Street and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s new research building, among other major Skidmore, Owings & Merrill projects. Calling him “an exemplary role model,” City Tech Alumni Association President Yvonne Riley-Tepie ’92 of Health Plus declared, “You have indeed demonstrated that you have everything it takes for success in your career and the classroom, and the excellence you bring to both continues to manifest in so many ways.”
Highlighting the College’s contributions to the building of New York and the world, outgoing President Fred W. Beaufait cited student involvement in architectural planning for a church decimated by the World Trade Center collapse and for a sorely needed surgical center in El Salvador. City Tech students also were instrumental in obtaining Historic District status for Tudor City in Manhattan. He also cited the Division of Continuing Education’s involvement through such educational initiatives as its Apartment House Institute and Superintendents Technical Association. “The work of building New York and other venues,” Beaufait concluded, “will never be completed, and City Tech graduates will surely play a large role in that exciting and challenging endeavor.”
07/20/04
Photo by Ken Brown
