Gaudium Award 2015
On Monday, November 9, 2015, The Breukelein Institute once again conferred its Gaudium Award upon a group of remarkable men and women. Held during its annual fund raising dinner at the Yale Club, this year’s honorees include:
-
Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addario is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, MacArthur Fellow Photojournalist whose work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies. Born in Conneticut, Ms Addario is a 1995 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 2000, she photographed in Afganistan under Taliban control. Additionally, Lynsey has covered conflicts in Iraq, Dafur, the Congo and Haiti. Covering stories throughout the Middle East and Africa, her work has appeared in the New York Times, Time, Newsweek and National Geographic. Ms. Addario has endured two frightening and abusive abductions in Iraq and then in Libya. The death of two photojournalist colleagues in Libya has led to her recently published memoir: It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War. It is scheduled to be an upcoming film directed by Steven Spielberg.
Melissa Clark
A native and current resident of Brooklyn, Melissa Clark earned a MFA in writing from Columbia University. Although she worked briefly as a cook in a restaurant kitchen and as a caterer, she began a free lance food writing career instead. She has written for Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart among others. As a staff member of the New York Times, she writes a weekly food column called A Good Appetite. Her 2010 cookbook appropriately titled In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite was widely acclaimed. Melissa has collaborated on over thirty cookbook books, many with New York's most celebrated chefs. She received both a James Beard and a Julia Child Cookbook award for her collaboration with chef Peter Berley for their book entitled Modern Vegetarian Kitchen.
Kevin Conway
Native New Yorker, Kevin Conway is the Managing Partner at Clayton, Dubilier and Rice, one of the oldest and most experienced private equity firms in the world. A magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College, he received a JD/MBA from Columbia University School of Law and Graduate School of Business. Mr. Conway has also served on numerous private and public corporations. Involved in several charities as well, Kevin Conway receives the 2015 Gaudium Award of Merit tonight for his commitment to one of tonight's beneficiaries: Student Sponsor Partners. As former Chairman and current Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kevin along with his wife, Denise Whalen Conway have been active supporters of the organization for over twenty-five years.
Richard Rodriguez
Born in California, the child of Mexican immigrants, Richard Rodriguez was educated in Catholic schools where he first had to face the painful conflicts of language and culture. He overcame these barriers, going on to receive a BA from Stanford University, and a MA from Columbia University. A Fulbright fellow, Mr. Rodriguez is familiar to television viewers for his years on the PBS show NewsHour. He has worked extensively as a lecturer, social, intellectual critic and journalist. However, his books, beginning with his autobiographical Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez established him as a premier voice for the racial, linguistic, sexual inequities faced by him and so many others worldwide. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, his book Darling is a spiritual autobiography which challenges the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Mimi Sheraton
Brooklyn born, Mimi Sheraton came from a family of food lovers and good cooking. Having majored in marketing and minored in journalism, Ms. Sheraton went from copy writing to home furnishings at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She become a certified decorator and the home furnishings editor at Seventeen Magazine. This work led to worldwide exploratory travel. Soon, she became the food editor there. In 1975, she became the first woman and a Front Page Awardwinning food critic for the New York Times. After eight years there, her career continued at Time and Conde Nast Traveler. For her work at New York Magazine, she received the Penney-Missouri Journalism Prize. In 1996, she received a James Beard Award. A prolific author and lecturer, her most recent book is 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die. She tasted (almost) all of them.
Tony Yazbeck
If ever the term "Broadway Baby" could be applied to a performer, it would be most apt for Tony Yazbeck. At the age of eleven, he had a role in Tyne Daly's production of Gypsy. From then on he never stopped performing. In fact, he graduated to the role of Tulsa in Patti LuPone's production of Gypsy in 2008. Tony has had many roles at the Barrington Stage, The Alliance Theatre, The Goodspeed,The Signature Theatre, the Hartford Stage, Williamstown, The Goodman Theatre, The Papermill Playhouse. On and Off Broadway, he has appeared in Chicago,White Christmas, Gypsy, A Chorus Line, Never Gonna Dance, and in the Encores series at City Center. It is his Tony nominated role in On The Town which has garnered him the highest praise as a triple threat: actor, singer, and dancer.