It was an evening to honor the best of Brooklyn at the fourth installment in Brooklyn Hospital’s ongoing celebration of its 175th anniversary. Ten of the borough’s most illustrious civic leaders and organizations past and present were awarded medals of recognition for their impactful efforts in helping to shape and define Brooklyn during a celebration at the River Café.
The honorees were Keith Kinch, co-founder and general manager of Bloc Power, a Brooklyn-based technology startup rapidly greening American cities; Robert Catell, chairperson of the Advanced Energy and Research Technology Center; the late Seth Faison, a trustee and former board chair of Brooklyn Hospital; George Harris, trustee emeritus of Brooklyn Hospital; David Henry Hwang, the Tony-winning playwright, screenwriter, television writer and librettist who serves as associate professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts; Barbara Just, director of nursing at Brooklyn Hospital; the late Albert Kronick, former chair and CEO of Abraham & Straus in Brooklyn; Dr. Yvonne Riley-Tepie, vice president and senior regional giving manager at TD Bank Charitable Foundation; the late Emily Warren Roebling, who led the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe, the founder of the River Café.