As my family celebrated the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah and the holy day Yom Kippur, it gave me time for reflection. Quiet thinking time is rare for me.
One of the prayer books had a powerful message I’d like to share, written by Allan Chalmers:
“The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”
Here’s to a great year with these blessings.
As I looked back on these last few weeks, I’m so grateful for my family and for the friendships I have gained.
Our acquisition of amNY is game-changing for our company, taking us into the daily newspaper world. And it was all made possible by my friend Marc Kramer, who I first met when he was CEO of the Daily News and we began having them print our newspapers as we still do to this day.
He introduced us to the leadership at Newsday. After several months of negotiations we came to an agreement — they would be concentrating on coverage of Long Island and we would be extending our weekly borough wide reach.
I’m so grateful that our talented editor Robert Pozarycki — who first ran the editorial office at the Ridgewood Times that we acquired, then became editor of The Queens Courier and eventually the TimesLedger group — will now take the reins of our amNY editorial staff.
Robert is a trusted, experienced, passionate person devoted to building our online presence and our local news coverage in print.
Our motto is “we’re all about you.” And that will be extended to our newest media.
It was such fun to go to the end of summer party at Howard and Lori Fensterman’s beautiful, spacious and lushly landscaped home in Sands Point, Long Island.
It was a real “who’s who” of Long Island and Brooklyn.
FIGHTING FOR A CAUSE
A highlight of the summer was my invitation from BNB Bank to the Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton, Long Island.
It turned out that my dear friend Manda Kalimian, the founder of the Cana Foundation, asked me to host some women at the event.
I was happy to bring BNB Bank President Kevin O’Connor to meet my guests, including Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright.
Manda has made it her life’s mission to save the wild horses that roam our western plains — saving the environment they live in drives her every day.
To help her raise money for the cause, she created a line of skin care products and sold it at a booth at the Classic’s merchandise mart.
A bonus for me was her honey that is gleaned from her own bee hives! I took that home with me and learned that honey is healthier if I don’t put it in my drink, but rather if I eat it separately! Who knew?!
Go, Manda, go!
