Speaking at the ninth annual Above the Bar Awards ceremony in White Plains, Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman called the practice of law the “helping profession.” One lawyer who exemplified that service to others was the late Alfred B. DelBello, said Friedman, who in his previous post as dean of Pace Law School came to know as a friend the former elected official who had formed a law firm and moved into private practice in Westchester.
His friend was “helpful and generous,” said Friedman, keynote speaker at the recent event at Pace Law School honoring lawyers and law students, where DelBello, the former Yonkers mayor, county executive and state lieutenant governor who died on May 15, received special recognition for his distinguished career in government and law. “That”™s what Al liked best ”” helping others ”” and the more people he could help, the more he liked it.”
Friedman called on his audience, many of whom were DelBello”™s colleagues in the legal profession, to “follow his lead in the drive to help others who need it the most.”
Accepting the honor on behalf of his father, Dr. Damon DelBello agreed with Freidman”™s description of his old friend. “The desire to help people was truly his primary motivation,” he said of his father. The need to help people on a societal basis moved him into politics and government, he said.
Receiving the annual Pace Setter award was Jerold R. Ruderman, who for 18 years was managing partner of the White Plains office of the county”™s largest law firm, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP. Ruderman led the office”™s expansion from 15 attorneys to more than 150 today.
Natanya L. Briendel received the Most Socially Conscious Attorney award for her work with low-income clients and victims of domestic abuse as senior staff attorney at the Pace Women”™s Justice Center.
Briendel said she was “honored and shocked” to receive the award. “I don”™t think I did anything other than what I was destined to do,” she said.
Gary S. Sastow, a partner at Brown, Gruttadaro, Gaujean, Prato LLC in White Plains, was honored as Leading Health Care Attorney for his work representing physicians in business and personal legal matters.
Growing up in a family of doctors, “I was sort of the black sheep that got the J.D. instead of the M.D.,” Sastow said.
The lawyer humorously recalled his boyhood training for a career in health care ”” accompanying his father, a family physician, on Sunday-morning house calls and impersonating him at the door while his father hid out of sight.
Frank S. McCullough Jr., senior partner at McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt LLP in White Plains, received the Leading Real Estate Attorney award for his 35 years of work in land use and environmental law. The honoree in recent years has represented developers in rezoning and redeveloping the Interstate 287 office park corridor for new uses.
- Alan G. Badey
Geoffrey Thompson, principal of Thompson & Bender, in introducing McCullough cited the lawyer”™s “ability to take the heat while keeping his cool” and called him “one of the best at working in what has become a very challenging environment for any development or even redevelopment plan.
Leigh A. Ellis, a member of this year”™s graduating class at Pace Law School dedicated to public-interest legal work, received the Most Promising Law Student award.
Sponsors of the Above the Bar Awards were Citrin Cooperman, Pace Law School, the Westchester County Business Journal, The Westchester Bank, Westchester Women”™s Bar Association, The Bristal Assisted Living and Westchester County Bar Association.
“We were thrilled to be a part of the ninth annual awards ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of Westchester County”™s top attorneys,” said Alan G. Badey, managing partner of Citrin Cooperman”™s White Plains office, in a statement. “Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees on such a noteworthy recognition ”” it is well deserved.”
