Sherri Shepherd, Susan Patricof, William J. Snipes, Stephanie Mills, and Scott M. Mills

The New York Urban League Board of Directors and their gala dinner committee hosted the 45th Annual Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Honored at the dinner were Susan Patricof with the inaugural Ann S. Kheel Award; Scott Mills, President and COO of BET Networks with the Frederick Douglass Award; and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with their Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative for young black men. Dinner co-chairs were Gideon King, CEO and Portfolio Manager, Loeb Partners; Debra L. Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks; William M. Lewis, Jr., Co-chairman of Investment Banking, Lazard; Basil A. Paterson, Esq. Partner, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein; and Lynn Whitfield, Actress and Activist. The black tie event featured a special performance by Stephanie Mills.

Alan J. Patricof, Audrey Smaltz, Susan Patricof, Christine Quinn, Arva Rice, and Noel Hankin

The Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner was initiated in 1965 to acknowledge and honor leaders in the private and public sectors whose contributions to society serve to eliminate racial barriers and promote opportunities for the disadvantaged. Proceeds from the dinner supported the New York Urban League's efforts to positively impact the lives of more than 15,000 directly and 35,000 indirectly to under-resourced residents annually. During this current period of increasing economic challenges, support of the awards dinner and the Urban League’s programs and services was ever more critical.

Noel Hankin, David N. Dinkins, Sherri Shepherd, Susan and Alan J. Patricof, and William Thompson, Jr.

Sherri Shepherd and Steven Boyd

David Banks and Arva Rice

Scott Mills, Debra Lee, Marc Morial, and Arva Rice

Dwight Johnson and Marva Smalls

Noel and Gwen Hankin

Kevin Liles and Stephanie Mills

New York Restoration Project and its Junior Committee, the NYRP Buds, hosted the 4th Annual Buds Spring Event on the rooftop of The Strand Hotel. The NYRP Buds are junior ambassadors for New York Restoration Project and bring together the city's hippest and greenest individuals – aged 21 to 40 – who are looking for meaningful, engaging ways to immerse themselves in the environmental advocacy NYRP stands for. All proceeds benefit New York Restoration Project.

Buds co-chairs Emily Conner, Sophie von Haselberg, Jon Recor, Beth Stellato, and Juliette Cooke

NYRP Bud, Narda Duchein, NYRP Development Manager, Jimmy Owens, NYRP Bud co-chair, Emily Conner, and NYRP Bud Junior Board Member, Christina Vescovo

Buds Junior Board members, Stephanie Owens and Sally Wolf

NYRP Junior Board and co-chairs stuff gifts bags for event

NYRP Buds Max Newman, Alex Stone, and Rob Fishman

NYRP Buds Randle Doss, David Gray, and Emily Conner

Jimmy Owens, Development Manager, Corporate Giving, Buds Junior Board members Heidi Wolf, Sally Wolf, Christina Vescovo, Stephanie Owens, and Kristin Blumm Dougherty, Chief Development Officer

Monday night's Literacy Partners 26th annual Gala Evening of Readings took place at the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. They raised more than $1 million for their programs to teach adults how to read.

Catherine and Les Hinton

Jacqueline Weld Drake and Mark Jackson

Alex Dube and Anka Palitz

Robert Bradford and Barbara Taylor Bradford

Stanley Zareff, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Carol Holmes McCarthy

Edwige Thomas

Sylvia Velazquez

Mary Higgins Clark

Geoffrey Bradfield and Anne Fuchs

Princeton Hall, David Finkel, and Mary Karr

Sara Gruen, Norris Church Mailer, and Barbara Taylor Bradford

Judy and Peter Price

Kathy Lee Gifford and Frank Gifford

Michael Meyer and Mary Karr

Wendy Jeffrey and Sally Richardson

Yanna Avis

Cherie Blair, Norris Church Mailer, and Joe Armstrong

Robert Bradford, Joe Taff, and Ovie Sonnenberg

Jane Friedman and David Kleinberg

Carol Holmes McCarthy and Stanley Zareff

Randy and Connie Jones

John Josephson and Carolina Zapf

Lesley Stahl

Andree Corroon and Susan Magrino Dunning

Arlene Taub and Elizabeth Watson

Tommy Tune and Liz Smith

Brian Teichman, Cherie Blair, Robert Bradford, and Paul David Van Atta

Brian Brown, Victoria Arbiter Brown, and Laurie Bernstein

Barbara and Donald Tober

Cherie Blair, Peter Brown, and Liz Smith

Karen Burke and Michael Wise

Jim Dunning and Sarah Wolfe

Ann Zahner and Charlie Jackson

Barbara Kalvig and Michael Shorter

Carolyn Carlson and Liz Perl

Diane Dennis

Arlene Dahl, Ben Gazzara, and Suzanne Mados

Jason Hamlin

Nina Rennert Davidson and Mitch Davidson

Jamie Creel, Carol McFadden, and Brad Comisar

Christopher and Grace Meigher

Anne Sutherland Fuchs, Joni Evans, and Jane Friedman

Don Laventhall and Laurie Bernstein

The Bob Hardwick Sound

Elizabeth Loomis and Peter Lyden

Deborah and Stephen Colvin

Elizabeth Peabody and Peter Rogers

Michael Wise and Georgia Mouzakis Tavlarios

Peter Brown and Patricia Kluge

Charlene Nederlander, James Nederlander, Margo McNabb Nederlander, Deborah Kessler, and James Nederlander Sr.

Liz Smith and Margo Howard

Yanna Avis and Robert Zimmerman

Lee Eastman, Vanessa Eastman, Jodie Eastman, and John Eastman

Norris Church Mailer and Joe Armstrong

Warren and Sunny Adler

Jan Cushing Amory and Bill Rondina

Joan Jedell and Stanley Zareff

Iris Love

The Versailles/Giverny dinner, organized by Barbara de Portago for the Versailles/Giverny Foundation took place in the ballroom of the Pierre. The gala benefit always plays host to a royal personage. The guest of honor always gives a brief, but enlightening talk about his or her family and country’s royal history. Valley Forge Military Academy Drummer announces dinner This year’s honored guest was HRH, The Prince Jean d’Orleans, Duc de Vendome, Dauphin of France and HRH la Duchesse de Vendome. The duke is descended from Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orleans, Duc d’Orleans who supported the French Revolution (and was known as Philippe Egalite) and eventually went to the guillotine in 1793, not long after his cousin, the king, Louis XVI, whom he opposed almost from the beginning of Louis’ reign. So the Prince has quite a family background. Mrs. de Portago’s relationship to the French and the Bourbon and d’Orlean royals comes through her mother and stepfather, Florence and Gerald Van der Kemp. The Van der Kemps set up the Versailles Foundation in the 1960s to raise funds for the restoration of the principal galleries and apartments of the Sun King’s palace. Many of his supporters were Americans beginning with the Rockefellers, Barbara Hutton, Estee Lauder, as well as Wildensteins, Rothschilds, Pierre David-Weil, the Aga Khan and Arturo Lopez-Wilshaw, to name only afew of its benefactors. In 1977, Mr. Van der Kemp was asked by the French government to restore Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny where he did his famous water lily studies. Mr. Van der Kemp died at age 89 in 2002 and his wife died last year in her early 90s, leaving Barbara with the task of running the foundation and raising funds for its work. Last night’s dinner was for supporters and new benefactors and was sponsored by Gillian Spreckels Fuller, the American heiress whose parents had also been benefactors of the Van der Kemps' work.

Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince Jean de France, his wife The Duchess de Vendôme, and Foundation Director Mrs. Gillian Spreckels Fuller

His Imperial & Royal Highness Prince George Frederick of Prussia and International Committee Member Mrs. Gundel Dorrance

Marine and Versailles Foundation President Barbara de Portago

Foundation Committee Member Lisa and Ronald Oliver

Sabrina Forsythe

Melissa Morris and Cadet

Maribel Lieberman

Myrna Haft and Cadet

Foundation Junior Committee Director Tracey Langfitt and Elizabeth Schaub

Heide Canellopoulos

Kari and Carl Hans Tiedemann

On the first Monday in May, Glenn Close was the recipient of the Fountain House Humanitarian Award. The Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award winner was honored for her dedicated and passionate advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness, at the 7th annual Fountain House Symposium and Luncheon. The event, entitled “Voices & Visions: Understanding and Treating Psychosis – New Research, New Hope” took place at the Grand Ballroom of The Pierre. Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and US Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, both longtime champions of mental health issues, were among the nearly 600 guests in attendance. This yearly event was founded to advance community knowledge about mental illness and to reduce the associated stigma. Funds raised support the programs of Fountain House, an internationally recognized non-profit organization which, since 1948, has worked to better the lives of people living with major mental illness.

Dr. Beth Baxter, Dr. Donald Goff, Lynn Nicholas, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, and Consuelo Mack

The Symposium featured a panel discussion geared to a lay audience by distinguished experts in the fields of mental health research, treatment, and public policy: Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, Donald C. Goff, MD, and Beth Baxter, MD. Consuelo Mack, managing editor and anchor of Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, served as Master of Ceremonies. The Honorable Robert A. Antonioni, US Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, and US Congressman John A. Sullivan were Honorary Chairs. Event Chairs: Patricia Begley, Kitty de Chazal, Lorna Hyde Graev, Alexandra A. Herzan, Anne Mai. Program Chair: Lynn Nicholas, PsyD. Corporate Chair: Kim S. Fennebresque, Dahlman Rose & Co.

Katherine Bryan, Becky de Kertanguy, Susan Warner, Sydney Shuman, and Lorna Hyde Graev

Among those in attendance were: Frances Beatty Adler and Allen Adler, Courtney Allinson Arnot, Debbie Bancroft, Ann Barish, Deeda and Bill Blair, Katherine Bryan, Dana Buchman, Rebecca de Kertanguay, Jackie Drake, Jackie Drexel, Marina Galesi, Gail Gilbert, Mark Gilbertson, Lorna and Larry Graev, Sharon Handler, Amanda H. Haynes-Dale, Alex and Paul Herzan, Marlene Hess, Mariana Kaufman, Fernanda Kellogg, Stephanie Krieger and Brian Stewart, Margo M. Langenberg, Denise LeFrak-Calicchio, Carolyn B. MacKenzie, Helena Martinez, Lynn and Nick Nicholas, Lee Niven, Elizabeth T. Peabody, Ann and John S. Pyne, Ann Rapp, Emilia Saint-Amand, Jean Shafiroff, Silda Wall Spitzer, Felicia Taylor, Topsy Taylor, Kari and Carl Tiedemann, Zibby Tozer, Adrienne Vittadini, Liz and Jim Watson. The panelists shed light on the mental state known as Psychosis, which has been defined as a loss of contact with reality; as an altered or distorted perception of and relation to reality; and as an extreme state of consciousness that involves radical changes in personality, behavior, thinking, feeling and relating to others. Causes include the relatively uncommon and severe mental illnesses – such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression. However, psychotic reactions may occur in dementia, as well as due to alcohol or drug use, anesthesia, sleep deprivation, traumatic stress, or certain prescription drugs such as steroids. While cures for the most severe psychotic disorders have not yet been found, recovery – the ability to live productively with these illnesses – can be achieved.

Kitty de Chazal, Anne Mai, Patricia Begley, Kenn Dudek, Alexandra Herzan, Lynn Nicholas, and Lorna Hyde Graev

In accepting the Fountain House honor, Glenn Close spoke movingly and candidly of her firsthand observation of struggles with mental illness within her family and subsequent volunteer work at Fountain House. Last fall, Ms. Close and Fountain House initiated a new anti-stigma campaign, BringChange2Mind [1], including a Public Service Announcement directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard. An unprecedented coalition of national mental health organizations has come together to support this initiative. Close’s sister Jessie and nephew Calen, who both live with mental illness, were on hand as she was lauded for her extraordinary commitment to work that is of such significance to their family, and to so many others. Founded in 1948 by former psychiatric patients of Rockland State Hospital, Fountain House is the world’s leading provider of recovery services for men, women, and young adults living with major mental illness. Through its renowned comprehensive model of support, replicated in more than 400 locations in 30 countries and 32 states, Fountain House helps 1,300 people annually in finding a home, returning to school, re-entering the workplace, and re-establishing connections to family, friends, and the larger community. For more information, please visit: www.fountainhouse.org [2].

Francis Beatty Adler and Jackie Weld Drake

Arlene Salomon and Alexandra Herzan

Kari Tiedemann and Margo Langenberg

Brian Stewart and Stephanie Krieger

Regina and Rainer Greeven

Mariana Kaufman and Topsy Taylor

Gayle Gilbert

Zibby Tozer and Lynn Nicholas

Emilia Saint-Amand

Virginia Merriman, Duke Merriman, and Hope Hudner

Lorna Hyde Graev, Patrick Kennedy, and Deeda Blair

Hermine Warren and John Whitehead

Marion Davidson and Willem de Vogel

Nicholas Ratut and Sharon Handler

Helena Martinez

Rosalynn Carter, Kenn Dudek, and Glenn Close

Silda Wall Spitzer

Kitty de Chazal and Lee Niven

Anne Mai and Glenn Close

Linda de Roulet and Payne Middleton

Calen Pick, Jessie Close, Rosalyn Carter, and Glenn Close

Kim Fennebresque and Beth DuPont

Mark Gilbertson and Madeleine Potvin

Nancy Taylor and Barry Osbourne

Deeda Blair and Elizabeth Peabody

Photographs by Margot Jordan (Frederick Douglas Awards); Chris London (NYRP); PatrickMcMullan.com & Leslie Barbaro (Fountain House); PatrickMcMullan.com (Literacy Partners); Jay Brady (Versailles).

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