At
Gotham Hall for the
Alliance for the Arts' 5th Annual Benefit.
8:00 PM. Photo: JH.
Last
night at Gotham Hall on 36th and Broadway, the Alliance
For the Arts held its 5th Annual Benefit and honored brother and
sister, Beth Rudin DeWoody and William
C. Rudin with the Alliance’s
first “Alliance For the Arts Prize.”
The Rudin Family is a major real estate force in New York, beginning
with its founder, grandfather of last night’s honorees Samuel
Rudin who bought his first piece of real estate in 1902.
Whether or not it’s true, legend has it that the family still
owns that original acquisition. Sam and Mae Rudin had
two sons, Jack
and Lewis – Lewis being the father
of last night’s honorees.
Together the brothers worked with their founding father and built
Rudin Management which today owns a large portfolio of residential
and commercial real estate in the city.
The Rudin brothers also established themselves in the community
as leaders of philanthropy and civic responsibility. The New York
Marathon for example was first sponsored by them and indeed, the
prize is, as marathoners know, The Samuel Rudin trophy. Old Sam
was a runner too.
The two brothers remained a powerful team in the development of
the family business and in spreading their largesse to the enhancement
of the community. Lewis Rudin, who many regarded as “Mr.
New York,” was an extremely sociable character who loved
friendship and camaraderie and knew “everybody.” When
he died at 74, a little more than a week after 9/11, the funeral
was held on Sunday at Central Synagogue at 55th and Lexington and
they had to cordon off the block to manage the crowd of mourners
which included both President and Mrs. Clinton delivering eulogies.
Beth
Rudin DeWoody
The work and efforts of the two brothers – Jack and Lew Rudin
– over the past half century has powerfully affected many of the
great cultural institutions of the city – from the library
to the hospitals, the educational institutions, the parks and the
neighborhoods. They also brought up their children sharing this
enthusiasm, so it came as no surprise for those hundreds of us
who were present last night in Gotham Hall to see Beth and Billy
receiving this award.
I’ve known brother and sister for the past thirty or
more years and have watched their development from youth to maturity
as solid members of the community that is New York. Last night
in her acceptance, Beth remarked that “our father taught
us that people didn’t come to New York for the clean air,
they come here for the culture.” With that kind of tutelage
it only follows that brother and sister are actively involved.
Beth sits on the boards of the Whitney, the Brooklyn Academy of
Music, New School, Phoenix House, New Yorkers For Children, the
Police Foundation, New York Children’s Foundation. She serves
as an adviser for Studio in a School and the Woman’s Project
and sits on committees for The New York Public Library and Association
for a Better New York (ABNY -- which her father started and her
brother now heads) where she chairs the Art and Culture committee.
Beth is also now a major collector. As long as I’ve known
her she’s been an acquirer, and accumulator of objects, sculpture,
painting, furniture, books. It has been fascinating to see that
early passion develop and refine and define itself to the point
where today young artists are proud to count her patronage as an
affirmation of their achievement. Bill, who joined the family business in 1979,
training under his father and his uncle Jack, now heads the family
firm. Following
in his father’s footsteps, he, like his sister, has embraced
the public responsibilities and tradition of active involvement
in the city and has put his own personal mark on the family business
by championing the resurgence of Lower Manhattan, giving new life
to old properties, both residential and commercial, through converting
them into technology-smart buildings.
Bill
Rudin blowing out the candles in celebration of
his 50th birthday
Besides his
chairing ABNY, he’s also chairman of the Battery Conservancy,
a board member of the Metropolitan Museum, the New York Hall of
Science, New York
University, the Real Estate Board of New York and the Alliance
for Downtown New York. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, the New York City Marathon Committee and the JPMorgan
Chase Regional Advisory Board.
The brother and sister, along with other members of their family,
cousins and in-laws are a very close-knit family, remarkably so
for a early 21st century family. As long as I’ve known them,
and known them fairly closely, and despite whatever difficulties
that may have confronted them, I've never seen anything but mutual
support and tolerance. Beth has two children, now grown, by artist Jim DeWoody – Kyle, now studying in university, and Carlton who is a very talented artist and musician. Bill has two children
with his wife Ophelia – Samantha, an actress, and Michael.
At the end of Bill’s acceptance last night, he made reference
to the art that does not cover his walls, and the collection he
does not possess. He pointed out one quotations carved into the
wall of this former savings bank where we were dining: “Waste
neither time nor money but use both for your own and your neighbors
good.” This, he said, reflected what his late father had
taught him and his sister. Then, holding up his award, he singled
out his wife Ophelia: “this is for Ophelia,” he said, “she
is my Venus de Milo, and I love her.” It was a very touching
moment, especially knowing how deeply heartfelt his words were.
Gotham Hall was filled with friends and family of brother and sister,
including Eric and Fiona Rudin, Rachel Rudin (their
stepmother, widow of Lew), Randy Bourscheidt,
president of the Alliance, Paul
Beirne, chairman; Howard Blum, Beth’s
companion, his sister Marcie Blum; Maria Papachristidis,
Ophelia Rudin’s mother; Carlton DeWoody, Michael and Samantha Rudin, Alex Papachristidis,
Ophelia’s brother; Michael and Tara Rockefeller,
Felicia Taylor, Hillie Mahoney, Sandy Hill, the former Sandy
Hill Pittman,
in from California, as was Tom Dean; Paul Gunther, Jonathan
Soros, Joanne Cassullo, Jonathan Tisch, Laurie Tisch, Alan Wanzenberg,
Marcia and Richard Mishaan, Pamela Gross and Jimmy Finkelstein,
Tiffany Dubin, Susan Blond, Mildred Brinn, Ben Doller, Frederic
Fekkai, Sherwin Goldman, Bobby Harling, Ashton Hawkins and Johnny
Moore, Tom Healy and Fred Hochberg, Justin Rockefeller with Indre
Vengris, John Sills and Elizabeth Papadopoullos, Andrew Solomon,
Elizabeth Stribling, Randall Beale and Carl Lana, Chappy Morris
and Melissa Stanley, Fred and Michele Oka Doner (Michele
designed the award) and many many more.
There was entertainment by “The Civilians” – Jennifer
Morris, Alison Weller, Colleen Werthmann, with Andy
Boroson at
the piano. The Peter Duchin Orchestar played during
dinner and for dancing.
Michele
Oka Doner and Michael Pierce
Victor
and Betsy Gotbaum with Richard Mittenthal
Jon
Tisch, Cindy Farkas, and Paul Beirne
Tom
Dean and Donald Tober
Nina
and John Richter
Linda
Earle and Mildred Brinn
Suzanne
and Bob Cochran
L.
to r.: Felicia Taylor, Somers White, and Patty Raynes;
Elizabeth Stribling, Beth Sapery, Barbara Tober, and
Rosita Sarnoff.
L.
to r.: Fred
Schneider, Joanne Cassullo, Richard Mishaan, and friend;
Barbara Bantivoglio, Emily Sussman, and Laurie Tisch.
Michael
Rockefeller
Tara
Rockefeller and Jonathan Soros
Randy
Bourscheidt and Susan Ralston
Nancy
Moon and DPC
Dr.
Carlin Vickery and James Capalino
Sandy
Hill and Frederick Fekkai
Jonathan
Farkas
Bill,
Beth, and Carlton DeWoody
Jonathan
Capehart
L.
to r.: John
Sills, Elizabeth Papadopoullos,
Colin Lively, and Alice Judelson; Michael Rudin with
his mom Ophelia Rudin.
David
Dinkins, Mark Green, and Bill Rudin
Click
image to visit
Sandy
Hill and Robert Wilson
Bill
and Ophelia Rudin
Chappy
Morris and Hillie Mahoney
Eric
Rudin
Carl
Lana
Joanne
Cassullo and Bill Sofield
Tiffany
Dubin and Pamela Gross
Richard
Mishaan and Peggy Siegal
Carlton
DeWoody and Douglas Hannant
Howard
Blum with his sister Marcie Blum
Indres
Vengris and Justin Rockefeller
Samantha
Rudin
Lauren
Ezersky
Debbie
Bancroft and friend
Rachel
Rudin and Beth DeWoody
From
across the sea (via Paris Match) comes the big news that
Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre, Hereditary Prince
of Monaco (Prince Albert to us’n) is the father of a bouncing
baby boy of almost two years named Alexandre. The mother
of the beautiful little one is a French/African woman named
Nicole whom the prince met when she was working as a hostess
on a flight he was on.
The
news comes as a surprise to more than a few who have long speculated
that Albert may be gay and would never be fathering an heir to
the principality. The problem fueling speculation was that for
a long time it was law or practically law that there had to be
a Grimaldi heir or else France would step in and take the tiny
little (one square mile) tax haven back. Historians and politicians
have argued more recently, however, that taking back Monaco was
important to France only in the old days when Germany was a threat
to Europolitics.
Prince Rainier's mother, Charlotte,
was the daughter of his grandfather's laundress. When it became
clear that Louis would have no other heir, his
father, also named Prince
Albert, legitimized Charlotte in 1919. She was then married
to Pierre, Comte de Polignac, an impoverished
French aristocrat. Four years later, Rainier was born and the House
of Grimaldi continued. Despite
early doubts as to his potential, Rainier became the most successful
head of the principality since
Charles III who built the casino in the 19th century,
as well as its most financially successful ruler/leader in its
history. When Rainier came to the throne, as it were — principalities
do not have thrones — the tiny country’s dwindling
income was derived mainly from the casino, the Société des
Bains de Mer. He revived the country by developing its
real estate, and international banking business, as well as its
international
potential as a tax-haven.
I interviewed Prince Albert several years ago in Monaco. I met
with him in his office in the palace in the Monacoville section
of the principality. It was a large, comfortable room, in no way
grand, but more like a library. It had been his late mother’s
office and from its windows it overlooked the yacht basin and the
city.
He had just celebrated his fortieth birthday, and of course speculation
was rife as to what the man was going to do with himself since
his father was still very vigorous and in control. Albert, who
had a long running tabloidal reputation as a playboy, struck me
as a very American sort of individual, almost awkward in concept,
in the role of a prince.
His American-ness was not so surprising – his mother, the
movie star Grace Kelly, was American – and he’d gone
to university in America at Amherst. He spoke English with an American
accent and with the exception of the foreign location of our interview,
he seemed entirely American. Because of it, I asked him what his
title was, how one should address him properly. He stated it in
French – His Serene Highness. Then I asked him what his friends
called him. “Al,” he answered with an ironic smile,
and we both laughed.
The interview was pleasant but hardly substantive. I left with
the feeling that this very nice man, without pretense or posturing,
was in the difficult position of waiting for his father to die
before he could assume his responsibilities of birthright. Therefore
he was left with the mantle of “playboy prince” to
either act out or tolerate.
I saw him a couple of times at parties in the Hamptons in the years
following, although we never spoke, and I doubt if he’d even
remember our meeting. There were a couple of women rumored to be “close” to
engagement with him, but they turned out to be false. There was
also a lingering rumor of a woman in California who’d borne
a child of his. This also never took wing. Instead, discussions
of his succession always led to speculation that Princess
Caroline’s
son would eventually take on the role that Rainier had established.
Now with the new revelations, speculation will begin anew. Alexandre,
the son, looks to have the sunny and sweet disposition, indeed,
even the good looks of his father. Supposedly mother and son have
been living in Albert’s apartment in Paris and he is supporting
them. Perhaps he will one day groom the boy to be his successor
in this quickly changing world. It seems right, when you think
of it.
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Louise Westergaard O’Neill passed away on Friday not
long after being diagnosed with Leukemia. Louise and I knew each
other through our great mutual friend, the late Lady
Sarah Churchill. A friend of Sarah’s was a friend
of Sarah’s no matter who they were; it was and is an uncommonly
strong bond.
Louise
was a very friendly woman, off-hand in style but
sincere and steadfast, with a strong sense of irony and easy to
laugh. Born in New York, she
went to the Professional Children’s School and later attended
the University of Chicago. After her first marriage to financial
analyst John Westergaard,
with whom she had two sons and two daughters, she married Stephen
O’Neill.
Louise loved theatre.
Known professionally as Louise Westergaard, she produced
or co-produced a number of
shows both on and off-Broadway including the
Tony Award winning “Sophisticated Ladies”, the Erte
version of “Stardust,” which featured the lyrics
of Mitchell
Parish; “Dream,” a
musical which she co-produced with Jack Wrangler and
which featured the lyrics of Johnny Mercer, and in 2002, “Say
Goodnight Gracie,” starring
Frank Gorshin playing George Burns (who
always closed his television and radio shows with Gracie Allen with “say
goodnight ....")
Off-Broadway she produced “American Rhapsody,” Joyce
Carol Oates’ “Cry Me a River" and Tovah:
Out of her Mind” which
was presented at the Jewish Repertory Theater. Her first book, Melanie,
was made into a film with Walter Reade Sterling. Early on she was artistic
director of Joseph Campbell and Jean Erdman’s theater, The Open
Eye. She was a lovely person and she will be missed by many.
