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UJA-FEDERATION
Nebbish or Mensch,
Seidenberg’s the Man
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
 ERIZON
chief Ivan Seidenberg, honoree at UJA-Federation’s Steven
J. Ross Award dinner, was pleased by all the comments from the likes
of Sony’s Howard Stringer, Citicorp’s Sanford Weill,
Viacom’s Sumner Redstone and Vivendi Universal’s Edgar
Bronfman Jr.
“It’s not often you get to hear such nice
things said about you – and you’re still alive!” Seidenberg
remarked.
Seidenberg was instrumental in reshaping the
communications industry when he merged Bell Atlantic with NYNEX in
1997, and Bell Atlantic with GTE in 2000.
The dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria raised $1.2
million for UJA-Federation of New York.
Redstone’s special guest was the lovely Paula
Fortunato. She teaches the third grade at PS 158.
James Earl Jones was befuddled with
Sumner’s name, calling him Redfield. But that’s okay – Jones
doesn’t work at Viacom.
Jones, the Verizon spokesman, groped for the
right Yiddish expression to describe his boss: “Ivan Seidenberg is
a nebbish. No, that’s not it. He’s a mensch. That’s it.”
Jones can be sure his job is secure.
The Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award is
presented every year by the Entertainment, Media &
Communications Division of UJA-Federation of New York. PR titan Howard
J. Rubenstein, News
Corp. general counsel Arthur M. Siskind and National
Basketball Association commissioner David J. Stern are the
division’s chairmen.
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