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OR 24 years the nonprofit Citizens Committee for New York City has been paying tribute to local citizens who make a difference. This year’s crop of honorees consisted of such stalwarts as Sy Sternberg, Michael R. Bloomberg, The Right Reverend Paul Moore Jr., Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell and George Trescher.

Two civic action groups, the Friends of Marine Park-Gerritsen Creek and Helping Hands Food Pantry-Fresh Youth Initiatives, also received recognition at the New Yorker for New York Awards dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Michael E. Clark, Citizens Committee president, presented the awards “to people who have done so much for our city – promoting education and the arts, business opportunity and medical research, spiritual well-being and social justice.”

Sy Sternberg, chairman, president and ceo of New York Life Insurance Company, is passionately involved with organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, the United Way of Tri-State, and the City University of New York’s Business Leadership Council.

Michael E. Clark (left) with Judy and Sam Peabody

Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Bloomberg news giant, serves on the board of 20 organizations, including John Hopkins University, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.

The Right Reverend Paul Moore Jr., retired Episcopal Bishop of New York, has been at the service of New Yorkers since the 1950s, when he began his ministry at St. Peter’s Church in Chelsea.

George Trescher raised millions when he ran the Metropolitan Museum’s centennial celebration, staged 15 cabarets for New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, and guided the Citizens Committee through many successful fundraisers.

Dr. Campbell, a former city cultural affairs commissioner, now dean of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, devotes her time to the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Laurie and Sy Sternberg (left) with Osborn and Inger Elliott

“This year’s honorees have committed their considerable resources and dedication to the basic goal of the Citizens Committee,” chairman Osborn Elliott said, “which is to make New York City a better place to live, work and raise a family.”

Lesley Stahl was master of ceremonies of the awards program. Presenters included Schuyler Chapin, commissioner of New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; civic leader Elizabeth Rohatyn, financier E. John Rosenwaldt Jr., First Deputy Commissioner Joseph P. Dunne of the New York City Police Department.

Brooke Russell Astor – whom Elliott calls the Citizens Committee’s “founding angel” – served as honorary chair of the benefit along with Lena Horne, E. John Rosenwald Jr. and Stephen H. Weiss.