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Robert
M. Bender Jr. (from left), ceo of
American Red Cross in Greater New York;
Dina Merrill, and Terry Hodge Taylor.
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AMERICA
RED CROSS
The
Shorter the Speeches
The Greater the Revenue
By TIM BOXER
 MERICAN
RED CROSS in Greater New York enjoys an enviable reputation for
having the briefest program and shortest speeches of any dinner in
New York. At its 17th annual dinner dance at the Pierre
Hotel, chairman Jonathan O’Herron held true to form.
The dinners,
with their concise speeches, annually raise in excess of a half
million dollars. O’Herron did not disappoint. He announced that
the evening’s total of $625,000 “has blown away any record we
had before.”
He offered a
special salute to Bob Bender, who has served as ceo for 40
years. The noted New York Daily News artist Bill Gallo created
a special drawing of Bender for the occasion.
O’Herron
reported that the Red Cross in Greater New York responds to an
average of eight disasters a day. Last year its programs and
services touched more than 818,000 residents. Although disaster
relief is its premier service, the Red Cross does much more. It is
engaged in
Feeding,
sheltering and clothing victims.
Relocating
homeless families.
Providing
care to the elderly.
Helping
people learn emergency first aid and CPR.
Sam Butler,
senior partner at
the law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore, served as dinner
chairman. He has had a long history of helping others in the
community.
He recalled a
time in 1944 when a terrible flood inundated his native Logansport,
Indiana.
Diandra
de Morrell Douglas (from left),
Terry Hodge Taylor, Dina Merrill,
Christina Schwarzman. |
“My
grandmother borrowed an amphibious vehicle, and I joined her, riding
around town, giving out food and blankets, and rescuing some
people.”
Guest of honor
was Stephen A. Schwarzman, co-founder of the Blackstone
Group, a private investment bank. A devoted supporter of the Red
Cross, he accepted this year’s Humanitarian Award.
Schwarzman
is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the
board of the New York City Ballet, Film Society of Lincoln Center,
and Harvard Business School Visiting Committee.
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