AJC Westchester/Fairfield 2019 Gala   
Thursday, May 16th
6:00PM to 9:00PM

Join us as we honor Richard W. Cohen and Ruth & Sid Lapidus. 

Evening Program:  U.S. Disengagement:  What it Means for the Middle East

Featuring
Robert Ford, Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria
Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer 

Please join the Tribute Committee.  Benefits include: 

• Your name listed on the event program, and AJC website
• Dinner tickets
• Journal ad   

Visit ajcwestfair-gala2019.eventbrite.com for complete details and to make your tribute level gift. 

• Our Honorees

  • Richard W. Cohen is the Regional President of AJC Westchester/Fairfield and a member of the AJC National Board of Governors.  He has participated in AJC exchange programs in Germany and Poland, and missions in Lithuania and Estonia and serves on AJC Diplomatic Outreach teams to Colombia, Lithuania and Poland.  Under Richard's leadership our region has grown to be one of the most successful in the country.  Richard is a nationally recognized lawyer in the fields of health insurance and investor rights litigation. Richard and his wife Emily live in Mamaroneck NY, and have two grown children. 
     
  • Ruth Lapidus has been involved with AJC for 20 years. She serves on the National Board of Governors and the Project Interchange and Women's Leadership Boards. Ruth graduated from Hunter College and received a graduate degree from Pace University in Public Health Administration. She is actively involved with Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic since 1990, and served as a past president of the organization. Being interested in women’s health, Ruth served on the Advisory Council of Women At Risk, a research, education and support program at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Ruth and Sid live in Harrison and have three children and six grandchildren.
     
  • Sid Lapidus graduated from Princeton University and Columbia University Law School. At year end 2007, he retired after forty years as a partner of Warburg Pincus LLC, one of the leading private equity firms.  He is Lead Director of Lennar, the country’s largest homebuilder.  Sid is active on many non-profit boards, including being Chair of the American Jewish Historical Society, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Jewish History.  He has long been involved with UJA-Federation of New York.  Sid also enjoys traveling with Ruth on many AJC overseas trips.
     

• Keynote Speakers

  • Ambassador Robert Ford, Senior Kissinger Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, finished a 30-year career with the Peace Corps and the U.S. Department of State in April 2014 and now is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, where he writes and speaks about Syria, Iraq and North Africa. He was the last U.S. Ambassador to serve in Syria, receiving wide recognition for his work defending Syrians' human rights in the face of the Bashar Assad regime's repression. In 2012 he received the annual Profile in Courage award for his human rights work, and a Presidential Honor award for his stewardship of the American Embassy in Damascus during a crisis period. Ford has appeared on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox, NPR, the BBC, Arabic networks speaking in Arabic and The New York Times.

  • Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, is a longtime analyst of U.S. political and strategic affairs and an advocate for Arab-Israeli peace. Since 1993, he has coordinated AJC ministerial meetings throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Asia, including numerous visits that were the first by an American Jewish civic organization. Jason directed an AJC initiative to strengthen transatlantic cooperation on Middle East policy – resulting in the opening of the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. He has been bestowed the honor of Chevalier of the Order by the Kingdom of Morocco and awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and Communication.

TRIBUTE COMMITTEE
(in formation as of May 10, 2019)
 

AMBASSADOR - $100,000+

Marion and Stanley M. Bergman
Gail A. Binderman
Dorian Goldman and Marvin Israelow
Ruth and Sid Lapidus
Barbara Mines
Harriet P. and Leonard Schleifer
Shonni Silverberg and John M. Shapiro
Nicki and Harold Tanner

DIPLOMAT - $50,000+
Stephne and Kerrin Behrend
Emily and Richard W. Cohen
Lori and Michael Feldstein
Hope and John Furth
Candy and Leon Gould
Amy and Frank Linde
Hon. Nita and Stephen Lowey
Jane and Paul Wolansky

DELEGATE - $25,000+
Susan and Mark Alcott
Janine Behrman and Alan Gover
Herbert Blecker
Janet and Peter Ezersky
Martine and Stanley Fleishman
Joan and Sam Ginsburg
Susan and Dr. Elliott Rose
Lisa Beck and Bruce Rubin
Sheryl and Morris B. Sachs

ADVOCATE - $10,000+
Judy Shandling and Elie Abemayor
Marc Berenzweig
Bleakley Platt & Schmidt LLP
George Bruckman
Paula Blumenfeld and Joseph Gantz
Alyssa and Michael Goldberg
Barbara and Bob Goodkind
Jill and Tom Gottlieb
Suzanne Kolen and Arnie Herz
Andrea and Ron Klausner
Nancy Petschek-Kohn and Stephen Kohn
Ellen Reinheimer and Barry Lovell
Lowey Dannenberg, P.C.
Norman and Joanne Matthews
Eileen and Donald McAleenan
Hon. Sondra M. Miller
Judy and Steven Rieger
Beverly and Michael Rosenbaum
Linda and Norton Rosensweig
Susan and Joel Schwartz
Ira and Janice Starr
Laura and Sy Sternberg
Betsy Woolf and Cliff Wolf

EMISSARY - $5,000+
Linda and Earle Altman
Ellen Jancko-Baken and Scott Baken
Jill and Greg Coleman
Dobesh, Nova and Lapidus Families
Sue Frieden
Karen and Bill Frommer
Lisa and Stuart Ginsberg
Cindy and Bennet Golub
Marcia and Stanley Grubel
Amy and Bruce Gutenplan
Lesley and Evan Heller
Diane and Razy Hirschberg
Marianne and David Kaplan
Joan Saslow and Ed Klagsbrun
Evelyne and David Klein
Lynn and Jules Kroll
Wendy and Richard Lubkin
Vanessa and Mark Mandel
Naomi and Paul Marrow
Linda and Joel Negrin
Cheryl Brandes Pine and Lloyd Pine
Lisa and Jonathan Roberts
Thomas Rush
Larry Rutkovsky
Tamar Sadeh
Joan Saslow
Liz and Gary Schonfeld
Jane and James Stern
Elizabeth and Walter Stern
Peggy and David Tanner
Nancy and Donald Fried-Tanzer
Adrienne and Cliff Wald
Judy and Michael Ward

ACTIVIST - $2,500+
A.B. Data
Mona and David Abramson
Paul F. Balser, Sr.
Judy and Howard Berkowitz
Joyce and Fred Claar
Sean and Anne Coffey
Gerald L. Cohen
Cuddy & Feder
Collier Halpern & Newberg, LLP
Cuddy & Feder LLP
Susan and Alan Fuirst
Tara Slone Goldstein and Wayne Goldstein
Sheryl & Seth S. Gross and Rachel Gross & H.P. Baker
William Handelman
Susan and David Haas
Ellen and Joseph Kaidanow
George Karpus
Meredith and James Kornreich
Tina and Neal Kurzner
Eleanor and Morton Lowenthal
Haina Just-Michael and Bernard Michael
Hedy R. Cardozo and Michael N. Rosenblut
Linda and Gilbert Snyder
Meredith and Thomas Sobol
Abrah and Joseph Sprung
Peggy and David Tanner
Temple Israel of New Rochelle
Ilissa and Paul Warhit
Brina and Allen Waxman
Judith and Roger Widmann
Kathy and Freddie Zaltas

PARTNER -$1250+
Roslyn Avigad
Danya and Mark Berman
R. Max Crane
Madeline and Emil Dominianni
Jeanne and Darren Fogel
Jennifer and Jonathan Franklin
Dana and Bruce Freyer
Zeena Hine and John Freiberg
Laurie and Stephen Girsky
Rabbi Howard Goldsmith
Irene Groban
Suzanne Horn and Norman Stone
Seth Kaller
Debra and Bob Kaplan
Eileen and Neil Klar
Elinor Koeppel
Jessica Morgenthal
Wendy and Howard Pein
Pam Schafler
Barbara and Jerry Shefsky
Edith Samers and Ed Smith
Suzanne Horn and Norman Stone
Jack and Karen Zitomer
 

Thank you to our Gala Tribute Committee members whose annual giving to AJC is reflected.
 

For more information contact 
Vicki Kline, Director of Development   klinev@ajc.org 
Sharon Saias, Assistant Development Director saiass@ajc.org 
or call 914-948-5585