Shown L to R at the Brooklyn Area Office’s annual Spring Benefit on May 23: Neal Gorman, Brooklyn Advisory Board Chair; Mildred Onken, Red Cross Brooklyn Advisory Board member; Dr. Russell K. Hotzler, President of the New York City College of Technology; Elisabeth Lindenmayer, former UN Assistant Secretary General; Jonathan Gabriel, Brooklyn Director; The Hon. Alice Fisher Rubin, Judge of the New York City Civil Court, and Rosemary W. Mackey, ARC/GNY Chief External Affairs Officer.

The Brooklyn Area Office hosted its annual Spring Benefit on Wednesday, May 23. More than 140 guests gathered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Palm House to honor the humanitarian work of four Brooklyn supporters:

The Hon. Alice Fisher Rubin, Judge of the New York City Civil Court, has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Brooklyn Area Office of the American Red Cross in Greater New York for more than 25 years. During her distinguished career she has been an advisor to the New York City Mayor and New York State Governor on policy issues, a court attorney to a Supreme Court Justice, a trial attorney, an attorney in private practice, and Judge of the New York City Civil Court since 1998.

Dr. Russell K. Hotzler, president, New York City College of Technology, has guided multiple educational institutions.  Dr. Hotzler most recently served as the vice chancellor for academic program planning at The City University of New York, with system-wide responsibility for planning and program initiatives. In the fall of 2005 Dr. Hotzler, along with the Student Government Associations of NYC College of Technology, helped the victims of Hurricane Katrina by providing financial assistance to the American Red Cross.

Elisabeth Lindenmayer, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General, started her United Nations career in 1977 in the field of human resources management. She was immediately assigned to the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Finance as a Budget Officer and three years later was appointed Special Assistant to the Controller. As part of the UN Peacekeeping operations, Ms. Lindenmayer accompanied various envoys and commissions to Somalia, Iraq, Vienna, Rwanda and Kuwait.  Her outstanding credential and work in humanitarian field led to the Executive Assistant to the Secretary General post. Shortly afterward, Ms. Lindenmayer was promoted to the Assistant Secretary-General level as Deputy Chef de Cabinet for Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Upon leaving the UN, Ms. Lindenmayer was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 2006 by the President of France Jacques Chirac in Paris. She now teaches at the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and at New York University.  She is also a Senior Advisor at the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Security Council Report.

Mildred Onken is a past member of the advisory board and long time supporter of the American Red Cross in Greater New York, Brooklyn. Her mother was a pioneer involved with the Clara Barton Chapter, the first Red Cross Chapter in the State of New York, in the Rochester area. Mildred was a professor at Guniata College, where she was acting Dean and Chair of Women's Studies and taught modern languages. She as been a board member of the YMCA a PTA member at Packer Collegiate High School and a member of Civitas Club.  For 30 years she was involved with Brooklyn childcare agencies and is an active member of Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights.