On April 18, alumnae and friends of Barnard College gathered at New York’s historic Plaza Hotel for the Annual Gala, a dinner and auction to benefit the College’s financial aid program. The event honored recipients of the Frederick A.P. Barnard Award: Connie ’53 and Harvey Krueger and the Krueger Family, and Claire and Leonard Tow, Emily Tow Jackson ’88 and the Tow Foundation. Benjamin Doller of Sotheby’s served as auctioneer. The event raised close to $2.3 million for scholarship aid.
Watch videos introducing the honorees.
“Scholarship aid is tremendously important to Barnard, and a wonderful example of how generations of alumnae, families, and friends show their support for today’s young women and the future of the College,” said Barnard President Debora L. Spar.
“Barnard has shaped me in countless ways. From the rigorous academic curriculum to the network of extraordinary women, the College brought out in me the desire to develop critical thinking and heighten social consciousness,” said scholarship recipient Carmen Romero ’13. “I hope that someday I'll be able to help other young women have this experience, because the support I've received has been invaluable."
“The Annual Gala is instrumental in upholding Barnard’s commitment to educating talented young women regardless of their financial means,” said Nanette M. DiLauro, Barnard’s director of financial aid. “In this academic year alone, more than $35 million in scholarship aid was offered to Barnard students.”
Read more about all of the honorees, including a profile of the Tow family in The Wall Street Journal.
Following the Annual Gala, the evening continued with the second annual Gala Nights, an initiative founded and spearheaded by a committee of socially engaged young alumnae. Also in support of scholarships, the goal of this soiree is to encourage young professionals to support current students, give back to their college and community, and participate in the New York philanthropic scene.
Read more about Claire and Leonard Tow, Emily Tow Jackson ’88 and the Tow Foundation.
Read more about Connie ’53 and Harvey Krueger and the Krueger Family.
After graduating from Barnard, Emily Tow Jackson ’88 joined the board of trustees of The Tow Foundation, which was established by her parents, Claire and Leonard Tow. She has been the Foundation’s Executive Director since 1994. She served on the Barnard President’s Advisory Council from 2007-2009 and joined the College’s board of trustees in 2012. An active director of Philanthropy New York from 1997-2004, Emily was chair of that organization from 2002-2004. She is the recipient of the 2002 Filer Award for creative leadership in philanthropy from the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, where she currently serves on the board of directors.
Claire Tow is a graduate of Brooklyn College and a former elementary school teacher. She was a co-founder of one of America’s largest cable television companies, which had its beginnings on her dining room table. She served as a director of several public companies, playing important roles in reshaping their management teams and human resources policies. In 1998, the City University of New York honored her with a Doctorate of Humane Letters. She continues as an active participant in her many philanthropic enterprises, even since her diagnosis with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 1999.
Leonard Tow is chief executive officer of New Century Holdings, LLC. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Citizens Communications Company from 1990 to 2004. Prior to that, he was a founder, director, and chief executive officer of Century Communications Corp., and a founder and director of Centennial Cellular Corp. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College and earned his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University. In addition to serving as the Chairman of The Tow Foundation, Leonard serves on the boards of several organizations, including Lincoln Center Theater, Cablevision, and Educational Broadcasting Corp.
The Tow Foundation is committed to supporting programs and creating collaborative ventures in fields where it sees opportunities for breakthroughs, reform and benefits for underserved populations. The Foundation makes strategic investments in areas where there are gaps in public and private funding, or opportunities to enrich the lives of others. Funding interests currently include breakthrough medical research, cultural institutions, higher education and advancing public policy reform in the areas of juvenile justice, youth development, child welfare and education. At Barnard, the Foundation established The Tow Foundation Public Service Internship Program which provides financial support to students during internships, and the Tow Research Fellowships, which support travel expenses related to research for a student’s senior thesis. The Tow Foundation also supports Barnard’s faculty through The Tow Professorships for Distinguished Scholars and Practitioners as well as The Tow Award for Innovative and Outstanding Pedagogy.
Connie ’53 and Harvey Krueger’s connection to the College has spanned three generations—including Connie’s sister Pamela ’57, daughter Abigail Bialer ’85, and Abigail’s daughter Hannah ’15. Another granddaughter, Rachel Cohen, is a graduate of the Class of 2003 and Connie’s grandniece, Caroline Axelrod, graduated in 2007. Connie was a member of the College’s Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2005, serving as Chair of the Committee on Buildings, Grounds and Environment and as a member of the Development Committee. Since 2005, Connie has been an active Trustee Emerita and in 2008, she was recognized with the Award for Service to Barnard.
Throughout her adult life, Connie Krueger ’53 has been involved with a wide range of community service and philanthropic initiatives. She has been an active volunteer with The League of Women Voters, Sisterhood of Temple Avoda, Hadassah, and Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ, GMHC, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and at the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, where she is a past trustee. She is a past president of the UJA Federation of Northwest Bergen Country, NJ. In honor of their late son, she and her husband built the Peter Krueger Clinic at Beth Israel Hospital, the first street side walk-in AIDS clinic in New York, and they sponsor the Peter Krueger/Christie’s Fellowship at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Harvey Krueger, Vice Chairman of Barclay’s Capital, is also an active volunteer and has served on the board of many American, Israeli and European companies. He is the former Chairman and current trustee of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and member of the Board of Directors of Beth Hatefutsoth as well as Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and its parent Continuum Health Partners. Harvey was Chairman of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was President and Chairman of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, and is past Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace.
Among other very generous contributions to Barnard, the Kruegers established the Krueger Lecture Hall in Milbank and the Krueger Plaza outside of The Diana.
