Party Pictures 11/21/05 - Celebrations of Evolution, Science, Horticulture, and Literacy

Celebrations of Evolution, Science, Horticulture, and Literacy

Last Wednesday night, the American Museum of Natural History held its biggest bestest annual Gala with more than 500 attending the dazzling ball just two days before the opening of their fabulous “Darwin,” the most in-depth exhibition ever mounted on Charles Darwin.

The evening’s chairs were Jurate Kazickas and Roger Altman, Jodie and John Eastman, Kathy and Tom Freston, Alice and Lorne Michaels, and Connie and Ted Roosevelt.

Under the Blue Whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life

After cocktails in the Roosevelt Rotunda, the stellar crowd moved on to the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life where seated under the famous blue whale, they were served a gourmet meal, while Jamie Niven conducted an auction, Jon Stewart emceed, and Neil Young performed. And for this the museum raised $2 million to help support its education and scientific programming.

The dessert

Among the lucky ones attending: John Alexander and Fiona Waterstreet, Dan Ackroyd and Donna Dixon, Mr. and Mrs. Dick Beattie, Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Lewis W. Bernard, Cathie Black, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Bommer, Tom and Meredith Brokaw, Jane and Jimmy Buffett, Drs. Michelle Copeland and Jonathan Halperin, Jonathan Demme, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Eisner, Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi, Pamela Farkas, HRH Princess Firyal of Jordan and Lionel Pincus, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Ganzi, Richard Gilder, Mr. and Mrs. John B. Hess, Marlene Hess and James Zirin, Honorable Richard C. Holbrooke and Kati Marton, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Kempner, Marci Klein, Karen Lauder, Shelly Lazarus, Ellen and Dr. Dick Levine, Judy McGrath and Mike Corbett, Mr. and Mrs. Keith McNally, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Merrin, Mr. and Mrs. Roberto Mignone, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mishaan, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Offit, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Overlock, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Patricof, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Peltier, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Resnick, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Resnick, Frank Richardson and Honorable Kimba Wood, Ed Schlossberg and Caroline Kennedy, Ralph Schlosstein and Jane Hartley, Mr. and Mrs. Neal Shear, Anne and Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, Anne and Bernard Spitzer, Lesley Stahl and Aaron Latham, Mr. and Mrs. John Steinhardt, Jay and Kelly Sugarman, and Suzanne and Bob Wright.

L. to r.: Rachel Dratch, Will Forte, Amy Poehler, and Chris Parnell; Kelly and Jay Sugarman.

Jeffery and Valerie S. Peltier with Lewis W. Bernard

Scott and Donya Bommer with Lewis W. Bernard

Victor F. Ganzi, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey

John Eastman and Anne Sidamon-Eristoff

Ellen V. Futter, Lionel Pincus, and Princess Firyal of Jordan

Theodore Roosevelt IV, Ellen V. Futter, and Lewis W. Bernard

Neal and Jacqueline Shear with Lewis W. Bernard

Country Troy

Eva Longoria

Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw

Lewis W. Bernard, John Eastman, Michael Eisner, and Tom Freston

Gillian Miniter

Adele Chatfield-Taylor and John Guare

Jamie Niven

Lynn Sherr, Ellen V. Futter, and Mary Solomon

Neil Young, Lorne Michaels, and Jimmy Buffett

Caroline Kennedy

Jon Stewart

L. to r.: Kathy and Tom Freston, Ellen V. Futter, Lorne and Alice Michaels, and Lewis W. Bernard; Claire Bernard.

The New York Region of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science held its annual Gala “In Celebration of Science,” at Cipriani 42nd Street last month, paying tribute to Stuart Eizenstat, who is completing his term of office as Chairman of the Weizmann Institute’s Board of Governors. On that evening the Institute also honored three pillars of the American Committee — the President, Dr. Albert Willner, and Executive Committee members Norman Cohen and Saul Waring.

Saul Waring

Stuart Eizenstat became Chairman of the Weizmann Institute Board of Governors in 2002, having served as a Governor from 1989 to 1993. He has held a number of key positions during a decade and a half of government service, including Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, Deputy Treasury Secretary, Ambassador to the European Union, and Special Representative of the President on Holocaust-Era Issues. The revival of interest in justice for Holocaust survivors owes much to his efforts. Mr. Eizenstat heads the international practice of the law firm of Covington & Burling.

Dr. Willner, a retired orthopedic surgeon, was Chief of Services at the Crippled Children’s Hospital of New Jersey and its president for many years. He has been President of the American Committee of the Weizmann Institute for over eight years, and has served as Chairman of its Palm Beach Region. The Willner family has made a number of extraordinary gifts to the Weizmann Institute, including those that established the Willner Family Leadership Institute and the Willner Family Research Center for Vascular Biology.

Mr. Cohen is a member of the Weizmann Institute’s Executive Council, and was Deputy Chairman of its Board of Governors, having served the American Committee as both President and Chairman and has been deeply involved with the Institute’s welfare since 1970. Jubilee Walk, the site on the Weizmann Institute’s campus that acknowledges the most visionary benefactors, is dedicated in his honor.

Mr. Waring is a member of the Weizmann Institute Board of Governors. Founder of Waring & LaRosa Advertising, his extensive professional background includes work in market research, sales and promotion, and publishing. Mr. Waring is a founding partner of The Sagency LLC, a pro-bono consulting group that works for the benefit of non-profit organizations.

The Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, is a world-renowned center for science and technology research; for over sixty years, the American Committee has been a major source of its support.

Dr. David Bloomgarden, Dr. Albert Willner, and Dr. Jane Bloomgarden

Gershon Kekst

Norman Cohen and Bruce Pollack

Prof. Ilan Chet, Lynda and Martin Kraar, and Stuart Eizenstat

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The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury and Tony Smith

At the 12th annual Fall Luncheon of the Horticultural Society of New York they honored The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury with their HSNY Award for Excellence recognizing her outstanding contribution to horticulture and the preservation of garden history. Lady Salisbury’s work is chronicled in the new book The Gardens at Hatfield that was published in April 2005 by Francis Lincoln.

The event raises funds to support The Horticultural Society of New York’s community outreach programs that offer hands-on interdisciplinary programs to public school children, create safe and lovely gardens at branch libraries in every borough, and provide inmates on Rikers Island with vocational and horticultural training to help them redirect their lives in a positive way.

Lunch on The St. Regis Roof

The Honorary Chairs of the event were Sir Philip Thomas KCVO CMG, The British Consul-General, Dominique Browning Editor in Chief of House & Garden, and Charlotte Moss of Charlotte Moss Interior Design. Co-chairs were Mrs. Arthur L. Armitage, Mrs. Louis E. Black, Mrs. Peter A. Carnwath, Mrs. Howard L. Clark, Jr., Mrs. James T. Flynn, Mrs. Niels W. Johnsen, Mrs. Memrie M. Lewis, Mrs. George E. Stephenson II, Mrs. Elizabeth Stribling, and Mrs. Peter Tcherepnine. Vice-chairs were Mrs. James Benenson, Jr., Friederike Kemp Biggs, Sharon and Jeffrey Casdin, Lucy Day, Mrs. Roderick Gow, May Brawley Hill, Margo Langenberg, Charlotte Mathey, Ted Hartley and Dina Merrill, Mrs. Howard Phipps, Jr., and Mrs. John R. Robinson. Junior Chairs were Mrs. David Apple, Ms. Paige Betz, Mrs. Mark Hull, Mrs. Cynthia Ketchum, Mrs. James Loeffler, Mrs.Thomas Murphy, and Mrs. Mary Van Pelt.

Audrey Gruss and Sharon Bush

Esther Leeming Tuttle and Elizabeth Scholtz

Barbara Tober and Sondra Gilman

Dennis Hersch and Huguette Hersch

Blakely Griggs and friends

Sharen Benenson and Amy Goldman

Jeanne Lawrence and Anka Palitz

Lou Cinquino and Maria Rodale

Lyn Flynn and Sheri Babbio

Maisie Grace, Paige Betz, Isabel Tonelli, and Cally Stavropoulos

Mary Riley Smith and Ron Wendt

Vicki Adams and Nancy Gehman

Memrie Lewis, Lady Salisbury, Tony Smith, Marjorie Rosen, and Charlotte Moss

Suzette de Marigny Smith and Cece Black

Patricia Dunnington and Sheila Stephenson

Warrie Price, John Danzer, and Janet Mavec

THE WEEK magazine occasionally stages public luncheons (by invitation) at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse in Grand Central Terminal, which feature a panel discussion on a pertinent subject, always moderated by Sir Harold Evans, Editor-At-Large of THE WEEK. Sir Harold, or Harry as he is known to his legions of friends, acquaintances and admirers, is an excellent moderater, with the ability to probe both sides of a question with seemingly equal interest and understanding.

The last such lunch which was held two weeks ago Thursday was a discussion between Chris Whittle, Founder and CEO of Edison Schools, Chancellor Joel Klein of the New York City Department of Education and Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles.

Chris Whittle, Joel Klein, Harold Evans, and Richard Riordan

These conversations are not long and therefore escape most controversy thanks to the clock. But nevertheless, diverse opinions are stated and at times with enough gravity to ruffle more than a few feathers either on the panel or in the room. During this last luncheon, for example, Chris Whittle remarked that “there is a problem with consistency. 15 million illiterate children means there are 30,000 schools with a problem.” Chancellor Klein apparently was inclined to agree. “There is massive underachievement, but it is not across the board. This means there is inequity in the system.”

In the audience taking it all in, a lot of achievers and not an illiterate one amongst them – thankfully: Former Board of Ed president Carl McCall, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger; Diana Taylor, former Mass. Governor Bill Weld, Sade Baderinaw of ABC-TV; Lisa Belzberg, Mrs. Stephen Brill, Margaret Carlson, Esther Dyson, Karen Finlay, Rick Friedberg, Catharine Hamilton, Duane Hampton, Joan Helpern, Rick Hertzberg, Sharon Hoge, Myron Kandel, Elsa Klensch, Jeannette Longoria, Alice Mason, Mary McFadden, Dominique Nabokov, Susan Patricof, Suzanne Puchalsky, Campbell Robertson of the New York Times, Elizabeth Rohatyn, Shirley Lord, David Saltzman, Anita Sarko, Priscilla Whittle, and Dirk Wittenburn.