The Great Neck Chamber of Commerce will hold its Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in the Village of Kings Point.
Honorees include Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Lee Seeman with the Lifetime Achievement Award; Mitchell Beckerman, CPA with the Businessperson of the Year Award; Paul Linter from Dan’s State of the Art Beauty with the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award; and Vadim Lando and Pippa Borisy, co-directors of the Great Neck Music Conservatory who also won the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award.
Looking forward to the evening is second term Town of North Hempstad Councilwoman Seeman, who has served as program director for the chamber for 35 years, and has been with the Democratic Party since 1956.
“I was really very, very happy about it,” she said of winning the award.
A member of the New York State Democratic Committee and the Nassau County Democratic Committee, among the things Seeman is most proud of is her work with the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
Seeman was appointed to the commission in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, and later reappointed by President George W. Bush.
As a member of the commission, she helps raise funds to build monuments that preserve Jewish history in Eastern and Central Europe. Her projects have included a cemetery monument in Poland dedicated to those who died in the Holocaust and markers at the sites of former slave labor camps in Estonia during World War II.
“None of them are that easy,” Seeman said. “You just don’t go into a country and build a monument.”
Businessperson of the Year Mitchell Beckerman was “humbled, happy, excited,” by the award.
“I try to do positive things that enhance the community,” he said. “I do it because my family has always felt it very important to give back to the community. I do it because it makes me feel good.”
The CPA who has had a home-based practice for 17 years is also on the board of directors for the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce, deputy mayor of the Village of Great Neck, treasurer and executive board member of the Lake Success Jewish Center, and treasurer and Commissioner of the Great neck Senior Housing Authority.
Asked how he finds the time, he said, “My wife asks me the same thing all the time.”
His philosophy is that great responsibility leads to great time management.
“I felt very happy and gratified and humbled at the same time,” said Paul Linter, recipient of the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award. “I think it’s just a reward for all the successful years in town.”
Dan’s State of the Art Beauty started as a wholesale beauty supply 55 years ago, but has evolved into a retail-oriented boutique, since he purchased the store in 1976.
“Unlike some stores, like a department store, the girls without being pushy will be here to help, and will guide customers to a decision,” he said.
With products that range from makeup up to fragrance and hair care, their mission is to serve the customers needs. New products are tested by the store’s female staffers, and only purchased after customers give them thumbs up.
“We also special order, when we don’t carry something a customer wants,” Linter said. “We ship all over the country when people vacation or when they’re down in Florida. We have some international customers too.”
Linter is happy to welcome into his store customers of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
“I can’t believe the years have gone by so fast,” he said.
For 30 years, the Great Neck Music Conservatory has nurtured Long Island’s aspiring musicians. Husband-wife team Vadim Lando and Pippa Borisy serve as co-directors of one of Long Island’s premier music institutions.
Clarinetist Lando was praised by the New York Times for “consistently distinguished, vibrant and virtuosic playing,” and as a soloist performed with many orchestras in the United States and Canada.
Pianist Borisy has been active as a soloist and chamber musician. Featured on television and radio, she has performed all over the world.
The Great Neck Music Conservatory offers classes for children and adults in guitar, percussion, piano, strings, voice and wind, in addition to family time classes, ventriloquism and Yiddish. Advanced students perform every year at Carnegie Hall and have the opportunity to perform in Italy.
The Annual Awards Dinner will be held in Melville Hall at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 300 Steamboat Road. Tickets are $85 per person and can be purchased online at www.greatneckchamber.org. Cocktail hour starts at 6:30 p.m. and features an open bar. Dinner starts at 7:15 p.m. with a cash bar. Entertainment will be provided by Harry Mandel.
