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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION RAISES MORE THAN $200,000 AT ANNUAL LEGACY GALA
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| Legacy Award honorees Frederick Gruel (far left), president and chief executive officer of AAA New Jersey Automobile Club and a member of the William Paterson Board of Trustees, and Gerry Cottrell ’78 (second from right), vice president for finance, Coca-Cola Enterprises, who accepted on behalf of Coca-Cola, with President Arnold Speert (far right) and Sandra Deller (second from left), vice president for institutional advancement (second from left) |
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| Faculty Service Award recipient Cho Kin Leung (second from left) with Distinguished alumni Award recipients (left to right) Alfred W. Piaget ’57, Ed.D.; Marilyn Daniels ’79, M.A. ’80, Ph.D.; Carol J. Ossi ’74; Leslie D. Hirsch ’74; and Robert D. VanLangen ’75 |
The William Paterson University Foundation raised more than $200,000 at the Foundation’s 19th annual Legacy Award Gala and Silent Auction held on April 25 at The Villa at Mountain Lakes. The annual event raises funds to support the University’s mission of promoting student success and academic excellence.
The Legacy Award honors individuals and corporations who, through their acts and deeds, epitomize the spirit of William Paterson, the University’s namesake and the New Jersey patriot and statesman whose visionary leadership was critical in the development of the state and the nation. Recipients of this year’s Legacy Award were Frederick Gruel of Bridgewater, president and chief executive officer of AAA New Jersey Automobile Club, and Coca-Cola Enterprises, one of the country’s premier beverage companies.
The event also included the presentation of the University’s Distinguished Alumni Awards and Faculty Service Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented by the William Paterson Alumni Association to outstanding University alumni in recognition of significant achievement. Recipients were: Marilyn Daniels ’79, M.A. ’80, Ph.D. of Newport, Vermont, professor, communication arts and sciences, Pennsylvania State University; Leslie D. Hirsch ’74 of Denville, president and chief executive officer, Saint Clare’s Health System; Carol J. Ossi ’74 of Mahwah, executive director, Accredited Health Services (retired); Alfred W. Piaget ’57, Ed.D. of Wayne, founder and director, Benway School (retired); and Robert D. VanLangen ’75 of Glen Rock, managing director and chief financial officer, Lynch, Jones & Ryan Inc. (retired).
The Alumni Association Faculty Service Award is given to faculty members nominated by William Paterson alumni in recognition of demonstrated career achievement and commitment to the University. This year's recipient is Cho Kin Leung, Ph.D. of Ridgewood, retired professor of economics, finance and global business.
“Support for the Legacy program provides scholarships and other critical resources,” says President Arnold Speert. “But the impact goes even deeper. Funds raised by the Legacy Gala help to provide the support and experiences that advance our students on the path to successful careers and lives. We greatly appreciate the participation of our many partners.”
“Funds raised by the Legacy Award Gala are an investment in promoting student success through scholarships and academic resources,” says Sandra S. Deller, vice president for institutional advancement and president of the William Paterson University Foundation. “Now, more than ever, students need access to a high-quality education, New Jersey needs educated citizens and New Jersey businesses need an educated workforce."
William Paterson University, one of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, offers 43 undergraduate and 22 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, the Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the University enrolls approximately 10,200 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution’s 379 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.
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WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY
19TH ANNUAL LEGACY AWARD GALA AND SILENT AUCTION
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON HONOREES
2009 LEGACY AWARD RECIPIENTS
FREDERICK GRUEL
President and CEO, AAA New Jersey Automobile Club
Resident of Bridgewater
Frederick Gruel is president and chief executive officer of the AAA New Jersey Automobile Club and its subsidiaries, the AAA New Jersey Insurance Agency and the AAA New Jersey Car Care Center. Under his leadership, the organization has experienced significant growth in membership, staff, and revenue, as well as innovative product and service offerings. A trustee and former chairman of William Paterson University's Board of Trustees, he chairs the Board's Institutional Development Committee, and is former chairman of its Finance and Audit Committee. He is also a director of the William Paterson University Foundation. Prior to joining AAA in 1980, Gruel held several positions in higher education, including vice president of administration and finance at Thomas A. Edison State College. He also worked for the State of New Jersey’s Department of Higher Education, and the Board of Higher Education, City University of New York. Chairman of the New Jersey Council of AAA Clubs, Gruel is a member and past chairman of the national AAA Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and the prestigious AAA Accreditation committee. He also is a director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the American Commerce Insurance Company; director and past chairman of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce; and a trustee of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities. Gruel earned a bachelor of science degree in economics from Fordham University and a master’s degree in business administration from Florida State University. He is resident of Bridgewater.
COCA-COLA ENTERPRISES
Coca-Cola Enterprises is the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler serving North America and Western Europe. The company’, which has 73,000 employees, sells approximately 80 percent of The Coca-Cola Company’s North American volume. In 2008, it distributed more than two billion physical cases to more than 414 million consumers from its 440 facilities operating in 46 states in the United States and ten provinces of Canada. On behalf of its 700 employees in New Jersey, Coca-Cola Enterprises has been committed to supporting positive youth development by encouraging and assisting students at William Paterson University and the surrounding community for the past ten years. In addition, as a proud sponsor of the New Jersey Clean Communities, Coca-Cola Enterprises employees participate in educating and promoting recycling and clean ups across the state.
2009 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENTS
Marilyn Daniels ’79, M.A. ’80, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University
Resident of Newport, Vermont
Marilyn Daniels is a professor of communication arts and sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. She is both a nationally and internationally known expert on using American Sign Language (ASL) to improve hearing children’s literacy. For more than two decades she has been teaching college, producing visionary research, writing, lecturing, and instructing parents, caregivers, and educators on the benefits and use of ASL. Her book, Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy, is one of the most used and quoted books in America on this subject. The author of five books, Daniels has published more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. Her research receives attention in the popular media and is featured in publications such as Business Week, Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens and the New York Times, and many radio and television segments on outlets like NPR’s “Morning Edition.” She has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Exemplary Program Award for Use of Sign Language as an Early Literacy Strategy presented by the New Jersey Association of Partners in Education and the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. A 1979 graduate of William Paterson with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication, summa cum laude, she earned a master’s degree in communication arts, summa cum laude, from William Paterson University in 1980. Daniels earned her Ph.D. from New York University in 1989. She divides her time between Pennsylvania, where she teaches, and her home in Vermont. She and her husband, Anthony Maltese, a William Paterson professor emeritus of communication, have five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Leslie D. Hirsch ’74
President and CEO, St. Clare’s Health System
Resident of Denville
Leslie D. Hirsch is the president and chief executive officer of the Saint Clare’s Health System, a position he has held since May 2008. He is the first to serve as CEO of Saint Clare’s, a multi-hospital system located in northern New Jersey, since it became part of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) shortly before his arrival. CHI is a national nonprofit and faith-based health care ministry located in Denver, Colorado. Hirsch previously served as president and CEO of Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, and started at Touro in August 2005, just one week before New Orleans took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. After the complete evacuation and temporary closure of the hospital, he led Touro’s re-opening and recovery efforts. Before joining Touro, Hirsch served for three years as president and CEO of Denver’s Saint Joseph Hospital, operated by Exempla Healthcare. He also spent 14 years in Camden, N.J., with The Cooper Health System. He joined the organization in 1988 as executive vice president and chief operating officer, and became president and CEO in 1999. His thirty-year career in health care administration also includes positions as associate executive director/operations at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, and vice president at Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville, NJ. Hirsch has been an active community leader throughout his career. He has served on the boards of The Ronald McDonald House of southern New Jersey and the Camden County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and has served in various leadership roles with the American Heart Association in New Jersey, Colorado, and Louisiana. During his tenure in New Orleans, Hirsch played an active role in the city’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, having served as a member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority Public Health Task Force and in other leadership roles. Hirsch is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a past president of the Association of Healthcare Executives of New Jersey. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from William Paterson University and a master of public administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Carol J. Ossi ’74
Co-founder and Executive Director, Accredited Health Services, Inc. (Retired)
Resident of Mahwah
Carol J. Ossi is the retired co-founder and executive director of Accredited Health Services, Inc., a company dedicated to the nursing care of the sick in a home care setting. The company, which was sold in 1999, had served the people of northern and central New Jersey for twenty years. Her ascent to home care entrepreneurship was unorthodox, however. In 1971, Ossi was the married mother of three young children, as well as a registered nurse who had graduated from a three-year hospital school of nursing. Upon returning to work in a local hospital, she quickly realized a bachelor of science degree in nursing was now a necessary credential, and she enrolled in William Paterson’s B.S. in nursing program, working while going to school full time. Upon graduation from William Paterson in 1974, she entered the new visiting nursing field. After working for five years as a visiting nurse and discharge planner at three hospitals, Ossi became the director of professional services for the professional standards review organization of Bergen County, an arm of the federal government whose role it was to reduce the length of stay in hospitals and to move people into less costly levels of care. In 1979, Ossi started her own home care company, Accredited Health Services, Inc. Ossi presently serves as vice president of RCO Management, LLC, a company founded by her husband Richard, its president. RCO Management supplies business and sales management and training services to corporations and individuals. RCO Management also provides real estate management services in the commercial real estate sector. She and her husband reside in Mahwah and have three children and nine grandchildren.
Alfred Piaget ’57, Ed.D.
Founder and Director, Benway School (Retired)
Resident of Wayne
Alfred Piaget retired in July 2007 after fifty years of a multifaceted career in education. He attended William Paterson University—then known as Paterson State Teachers College—on the G.I. Bill and graduated in 1957. Piaget began his career as an eighth-grade teacher of English and U.S. history in Wayne. Piaget then turned his attention to the instruction of exceptional children—both those academically gifted and those at risk of dropping out. He received a full-time, graduate fellowship from Yeshiva University and earned both a master’s and a doctorate in the education of emotionally disturbed children. Piaget was hired by Rutgers University Graduate School, Department of Psychological Foundations, to develop a master’s and doctoral program in the new field of educating emotionally disturbed children. He later became director of New York’s Horizon School for children with emotional disorders and neurological impairments. After several years, he returned to New Jersey as director of the Center School at the Fair Lawn Mental Health Center. When that program concluded, he founded (from Center School) The Benway School, a private, not-for-profit program for students with emotional, learning, and/or neurological problems. Just before retiring, Passaic County’s Council of Public School Directors of Special Services presented Piaget with its “man of the year” award in recognition of his life-time devotion to students. Piaget resides in Wayne with his wife of 44 years, Dorothy Darth Tunis ‘59.
Robert D. VanLangen ’75
Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, Lynch, Jones & Ryan, Inc. (Retired)
Resident of Glen Rock
Robert D. VanLangen was one of the managing partners and owners, as well as the chief financial officer, of the institutional brokerage firm, Lynch, Jones & Ryan Inc. In 1981, he joined Citibank N.A. as vice president and chief of staff. Five years later, Citibank ventured into the international brokerage business as VanLangen managed the acquisition of Lynch, Jones & Ryan and became the firm’s managing director and CFO. In 1991, he managed the leveraged acquisition of Lynch, Jones & Ryan from Citibank, where he continued in the same positions he held when the firm was part of Citibank. In 2000, VanLangen spearheaded the sale of Lynch, Jones & Ryan to Instinet. Before joining Citibank, VanLangen was a vice president with Avon Products Inc. Previously, he was with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., a certified public accounting firm in Hackensack. Since his retirement in 2003, VanLangen has done extensive volunteer work in the community. He has served president of the Glen Rock Public Library’s board of trustees and chairman of its capital campaign. The founder of the Glen Rock Hockey Association, he serves on its board of directors, is a director on the board of the Glen Rock High School Boosters Club, and has served since 2002 on the Valley Hospital board’s planned giving committee. VanLangen has used his Wall Street expertise to benefit high school students. As a member of the Securities Industry Association, he initiated—and teaches—students in Glen Rock and in Brooklyn how to invest in the stock market. VanLangen earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting and business administration in three years from William Paterson University while working evenings, full time. He is married to his high school sweetheart and William Paterson alumna, Kathleen, and resides with his family in Glen Rock. They have four children, Kate, Tom, Betsy, and Mamie.
2009 FACULTY SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENT
Cho Kin Leung, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, Finance, and Global Business (Retired)
Resident of Ridgewood
Cho Kin Leung served as a professor of economics, finance, and global business at William Paterson University from 1974 to 2008, as well as dean of the Cotsakos College of Business on two separate occasions. Born in Hong Kong in 1930, he lived there until his family fled to mainland China when the Japanese invaded the British colony. Leung, who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as English, earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Hong Kong’s Hwa Kiu (now Chinese University) in 1956. He subsequently traveled to the United States to continue his education, earning a master of arts in 1962 and, in 1968, a doctorate in economics from New York University along with NYU’s Founder’s Day Award for Outstanding Scholarship. That same year, he accepted a position as assistant professor of economics at Long Island University, and, in 1974, he came to William Paterson to teach introductory, advanced, and graduate courses in economics and business. A specialist in the fields of labor relations and manpower economics, as well as international trade, money, and banking, Leund held numerous positions at the University, including department chair, director of the international management honors program, and academic assistant to the dean of the school of management. Leung has published in both English and Chinese, has been an active member of several professional associations and, in 1982, was invited by the Chinese Association of Sciences and Technology to be a guest lecturer in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou (Canton). He has coordinated several University conferences in international marketing. He and his wife, Lin Wang, have three children, son Ming De, and twin daughters, Li Li and May May.
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May 1, 2009
www.wpunj.edu
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