UPCOMING NIGHTLIGHT:New York Landmarks Conservancy Presents 2011 Living Landmarks Celebration Honoring: Lewis B. Cullman, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, Angela Lansbury, Danny Meyer and Regis Philbin Hon. David N. Dinkins to Receive Lew Rudin Living Landmark Award for Public Service Katie Couric and Rex Reed to Present Awards to Philbin and Lansbury

New York Landmarks Conservancy
Presents 2011 Living Landmarks Celebration
Honoring: Lewis B. Cullman, Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, Angela Lansbury, Danny Meyer and Regis Philbin

Hon. David N. Dinkins to Receive Lew Rudin Living Landmark Award for Public Service

Katie Couric and Rex Reed to Present Awards to Philbin and Lansbury

When: Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

Where: The Plaza Hotel at Fifth Avenue, New York City

Who: This year’s honorees are businessman and philanthropist Lewis B. Cullman; theatre historian Louise Kerz Hirschfeld; legendary actress Angela Lansbury; renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer and television personality Regis Philbin. Former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins will receive the Lew Rudin Living Landmark Award for Public Service

Katie Couric will present to Regis Philbin, and Rex Reed will present to Angela Lansbury.

Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch will serve as Honorary Co-chairs for the evening. Supporting them on the Celebration Committee will be former Living Landmarks Mica Ertegun, Barbara Goldsmith, Agnes Gund, Marian Heiskell, NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Phillippe de Montebello, Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn, Tommy Tune and Bunny Williams.

Landmark Liz Smith, who co-hosts the event along with Landmark Pete Peterson, will host the gala. Music will be provided by Landmark Peter Duchin and his Orchestra.

Ticket Information: Tickets for the gala start at $1,000; tables start at $10,000. Please call Alex Diaz at The JFM Group at 212.921.9070 ext. 16 or email at nylc@thejfmgroup.com to make reservations.

About The New York Landmarks Conservancy: The New York Landmarks Conservancy is dedicated to celebrating, preserving and protecting the iconic buildings and unique neighborhoods that help define our vibrant and extraordinary City.

The Conservancy is the only private organization that provides both financial support and technical expertise in this effort. Since its founding in 1973, it has loaned and granted more than $36 million to help people save their homes, cultural, civic and religious institutions. No other group is engaged in such a hands-on way in sustaining the rich architectural fabric of the City. Our work creates jobs, promotes tourism and enhances the daily quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Each year, The Landmarks Conservancy honors distinguished New Yorkers as “Living Landmarks” for their contributions to the City.

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2011 Living Landmarks Recipient Biographies

Lewis B. Cullman

Lewis B. Cullman, scion of a distinguished New York family, broke from the Cullman tobacco interests to forge innovations in business and philanthropy. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in government, earned an M.S. in meteorology from New York University, and served as an aerological officer in the Navy until the end of World War II. In 1963, he pioneered the first leveraged buyout. He was founder and president of Cullman Ventures, Inc., a diversified corporation that included the At-A-Glance Group, which at the height of its success produced nearly ninety percent of all commercial calendars, diaries and appointment books purchased in America. At that time, Mr. Cullman and his late wife Dorothy founded the Child Development Center in Sydney, NY – where At-A-Glance was located – which is now a model for early childhood care and education. In 1999, Mr. Cullman sold the company to devote his energies to philanthropy, serving on the boards of, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Botanical Garden, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and as Chairman (now Chairman Emeritus) of his favorite charity, Chess-in-the-Schools. Since 1986, Chess-in-the-Schools has taught the skills and strategies of chess to over 500,000 inner-city children, with many assisted by the organization’s College Bound program to prepare for, apply to and attend prestigious colleges. He has generously endowed and supported numerous New York City institutions and in recognition of his contributions, he is the recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture.

In December 2010, Mr. Cullman married Louise Kerz Hirschfeld.

David N. Dinkins

David N. Dinkins is Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs. The 106th Mayor of the City of New York, Mr. Dinkins began his career in public service in the New York State Assembly. He was president of the New York City Board of Elections, then City Clerk, Manhattan Borough President and Mayor of New York in 1989. Mr. Dinkins is a founding member of One Hundred Black Men, the Black & Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus and the Council of Black Elected Democrats of New York State. He was vice president of the US Conference of Mayors, and is a Member-at-Large of the Black Leadership Forum. He serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, Association to Benefit Children; Children’s Health Fund; Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; Posse Foundation; Coalition for the Homeless, and the US Tennis Association. He is chairman emeritus of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and the Constituency for Africa, and serves on the steering committee of the Association for a Better New York and the New York Urban League Advisory Council. He serves on the board of New York City Global Partners and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an Honorary Life Trustee of the Community Service Society of New York, an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Harlem Hospital and a Lifetime Member of the NAACP. Mr. Dinkins graduated with honors from Howard University with a B.S. in mathematics and received an LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School. He served in the US Marine Corps during WWII and maintained a private law practice before entering public service.

Louise Kerz Hirschfeld

Louise Kerz Hirschfeld serves as President of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, which honors her late husband and his artwork. In this role, Ms. Hirschfeld has assumed the task of overseeing new exhibitions, supervising publications, directing educational programs and spearheading philanthropic endeavors. Most recently, Ms. Hirschfeld has organized “Brits on Broadway” in London, “Hirschfeld on Shaw” for Canada’s “The Shaw Festival” and “Hirschfeld on Tennessee Williams,” a centenary exhibition in New Orleans this year. One of the most exciting and rewarding ventures under the Foundation’s guidance is the collaboration with the New York City Board of Education to produce “The Al Hirschfeld Project,” a curriculum for teaching the arts in New York public schools. During her earlier career as a theatre historian, Ms. Hirschfeld organized and created many exhibits such as “The Theatre of Max Reinhardt” and "The DeMille Dynasty” as well as working in television production as a research consultant for major networks, museums and award winning producers. She has served as picture editor and essayist for several publications, including, Hirschfeld on Line, and Hirschfeld’s British Aisles. Ms. Hirschfeld has also spent her time as an amateur photographer and her work was exhibited at New York’s Leica Gallery in 2002 and 2008. In collaboration with her Co-Chair, Arthur Gelb of The New York Times, and producer Roccco Landesman, she was instrumental in securing the ultimate Broadway tribute for her late husband … the re-naming of the Martin Beck Theatre to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. In December of last year Ms. Hirschfeld married Lewis Cullman. 

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury has enjoyed a career spanning seventy years in motion pictures, on stage and in television. She has appeared in nearly 60 motion pictures, most recently costarring with Jim Carrey in Mr. Popper’s Penguins released in June 2011. Last year she appeared on Broadway as Madame Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s classic A Little Night Music and the season before, she played Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, for which she won a fifth Tony Award. In 2006 she appeared in Terrence McNally’s Deuce, for which she was also nominated for a Tony. Her Broadway debut was in 1957 as Bert Lahr’s wife in, Hotel Paradiso. In 1960, she returned to Broadway as Joan Plowright’s mother in Shelagh Delaney’sA Taste of Honey. She starred in her first musical, Anyone Can Whistle, in 1959. In 1966 she triumphed as Mame, winning her first Tony. She won others for Dear World (1968), Gypsy (1974) and Sweeney Todd (1979.) From 1984-1996 she starred as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote, the longest-running detective drama series in TV history, winning four of her six Golden Globe Awards. In 1997 President Clinton presented her with the National Medal of the Arts. She is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and was named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1982 she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. In 1992 she received the Silver Mask for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 1996 she was inducted into the T.V. Hall of Fame, and in 1997 she was given a Lifetime Achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. In 2003, she was presented with a BAFTA/LA Britannia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Television and Film. She has been nominated for 18 Emmy Awards.

Danny Meyer

Danny Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modern, Café 2, Terrace 5, Malino and Untitled at The Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as Union Square Events and Hospitality Quotient. 

Danny, his restaurants, and chefs have eared an unprecedented 24 James Beard Awards, including Outstanding Restaurant of the Year; Outstanding Service; Outstanding Wine Service; Humanitarian of the Year; Who’s Who of Food and Beverage; Best Restaurant Design; and Best Restaurant Graphic design. Four of Danny’s restaurants have earned three stars from The New York Times and in 2009, Eleven Madison Park was upgraded to four stars. Three of the five ”Most Popular” restaurants in the 2011 New York Zagat Survey are part of the Union Square Hospitality Group, including Union Square Café, which has held the #1 spot an unprecedented nine times. 

Regis Philbin

Regis Philbin first stepped in front of the camera more than 50 years ago and ever since he has ambitiously tackled talk shows, game shows and even the literary world, winning a slew of notable awards along the way. Most recently, he and co-host Kelly Ripa were honored as co-winners of the 2011 Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host for "LIVE! with Regis and Kelly.”  In September 2010, he broke his own existing Guinness World Record™ for Most Hours on Camera, setting a new mark of 16,548 ½ hours accumulated over his illustrious career – a career that was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the 2008 Daytime Emmy Awards. Early on, Mr. Philbin took "A.M. Los Angeles" from the bottom of the ratings to number one, where the show remained throughout his seven-year tenure. He served as Joey Bishop's sidekick on "The Joey Bishop Show" and helmed "The Regis Philbin Show," a daily 30-minute program that received an Emmy for Outstanding Daytime Variety Series. Mr. Philbin took his daytime success to nighttime with ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". Although best known for his broadcasting career, music has been a lifelong passion. His albums include It's Time for Regis!, When You’re Smiling, The Regis Philbin Christmas Album and Regis & Joy: Just You, Just Me. A native of New York City, Mr. Philbin attended Our Lady of Solace grammar school and Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received an honorary doctorate of law degree for his contributions to Notre Dame and South Bend.