Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s 59th Annual Summer Party Raises Over $1.5 Million
It was a "ta da" moment at the Southampton Hospital's 59th Annual Summer Party. "We formally joined with Stony Brook on Tuesday," President and CEO Robert S. Chaloner told Hamptons.com on the lawn leading to the air conditioned tents that house the gala, where socialites preened for admiring cameras. "We're now officially Stony Brook Southampton Hospital! It will be an opportunity to bring all of their resources and skills together with all the great things about Southampton Hospital. So, this party marks a summer when so much is happening. Tonight, we have a large team of people who have joined us from Stony Brook, and the decor and food are just stunning."
Emceed by Fox 5 Good Day New York's Greg Kelly, the festive soiree brought out Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and wife Hilary Geary Ross, Southampton Village Mayor Michael Irving and wife Ellen Irving, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, Margo and John Catsimatidis, Julie Ratner, Douglas Elliman Real Estate Chairman Howard M. Lorber, who is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Foundation, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Association Chairman Kenneth Wright, and Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel Stanley.
We say Chaloner deserves much credit for the hospital's great things. The party benefitted The Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Department, created under his auspices. "Plus," he told us, "we're working on a Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Laboratory in the Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center, for emergency heart care, and also on the Phillips Family Cancer Center, thanks to the generosity of the Phillips family, which we're extremely excited about. Since I've been out here, people have been asking me for years to build one. Unfortunately, cancer rates are very high in our community. The closest cancer centers are in Riverhead and then Stony Brook. So, patients have to travel a very long distance. They're going back and forth for about six to eight weeks, five times a week, and the treatment is very debilitating. Having the treatment nearby is extremely important and we're thrilled about it."
One of the things that will never change, he promised, is the 24 hour dedication and care of the hospital staff and the sense of commitment of donors like former Chair Jean Shafiroff, who has raised record breaking amounts for the hospital, and Julie Ratner, whose Ellen Hermanson Foundation continues to raise money for the hospital's Ellen Hermanson Breast Center, via such events as their August 10 dinner catered by Jean-Georges and chaired by Jean Shafiroff.