The News salutes the contributions of six exceptional Western New Yorkers
Outstanding Citizens of 2008
THE STRENGTH OF ANY COMMUNITY LIES IN THE HEART, spirit and caring of individuals who live within it. Good communities have exceptionally good people who share deeply of themselves for the sake of others, and that sharing never should go unnoticed. Each y
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Communities don’t just move forward— they’re pushed by those who live and work in their neighborhoods, build bridges between those who have and those who don’t, fix problems and not only see opportunities but seize them. Some are leaders, others are quiet contributors. Not all get noticed, let alone honored.
But they do deserve honors. Communities would not prosper, might not survive, without them. They are behind the gains, incremental and dramatic, that shape the present into the future. They work in different ways but they have two things in common—they care, and they leave their communities better places for the sacrifices they have made and the labor they have done.
This issue of Viewpoints continues The News’ long tradition of honoring some of these community heroes as Outstanding Citizens. The long newsroom process of nominating candidates and selecting honorees this year singled out people whose contributions include peacemaking and progress-making in the complex challenge of hospital reform, agitating for consumer-benefiting reforms, running sports programs, standing up to the school system and taking on leadership roles in community development despite professional demands.
Here are this year’s Outstanding Citizens: State Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran, Rus Thompson, Jordan A. Levy, Michelle Stiles, Demeris Johnson and James Nowicki. They deserve this community’s gratitude.
JohnM. Curran
Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center reached a historic agreement last year on how to combine their institutions.
There were many people who made it happen, but State Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran, who oversaw a legal case related to the deal, certainly stands out among them.
The agreement created a once-in-a- generation opportunity to remake Buffalo’s inefficient health care system, settled a lawsuit brought by ECMC against the state and preserved $65 million in state aid to close Kaleida’s Millard Fillmore Hospital on Gates Circle and to merge its operations into Buffalo General Hospital.
In the bigger picture, it also paved the way for long-sought changes in hospital care in the region.
The judge’s role was especially crucial, considering he had stepped into an acrimonious situation with groups that were at war with each other and that seemed headed for disaster.
But Curran encouraged mediation and, even after talks broke down, he pushed again and again for a resolution he and others believed was in the best interests of the community.
Like a diplomat, he shuttled from group to group during eight hours of negotiations that involved almost 60 people, including all of the hospitals’ key officials, County Executive Chris Collins, University at Buffalo President John Simpson, the leaders of the UB Medical School, a committee of physicians from ECMC and Kaleida Health and an array of lawyers.
In the end, the parties resolved key differences and found common ground.
“This is the most complex thing I have ever been involved with,” Curran said at the time, adding that it also was the most rewarding thing he had ever done.
—Henry L. Davis
RusThompson
Grand Island contractor Rus Thompson is the epitome of a citizen-activist. Rather than quietly accept an increase in tolls on the Grand Island Bridges—particularly after the recent removal of Thruway tolls in Buffalo— Thompson took to the streets.
After workdays spent replacing floors and slapping up drywall, the 52- year-old Thompson takes on the shadow government of the Thruway Authority.
He collected more than 8,000 signatures on an anti-toll petition, dropping off the forms at pizza places and convenience stores. He drove his pickup truck to Albany to personally take the case to legislators. He makes the anti-toll argument at public and media forums. He created an informational Web site, www.nogitolls.com . He used the Freedom of Information law to pry data out of the recesses of the Thruway Authority and helped to craft a bill to remove the tolls by transferring the road to the state Department of Transportation. Some people just sit back and take it. Thompson stands and fights.
It is a worthy battle, given that the each-way toll on the bridge has doubled— from 50 cents to a dollar— over just three years. Thompson, who talks in a sandpaper rasp and resembles a cleaned-up Nick Nolte, wants the Grand Island spur off of the mainline Thruway taken out of the Thruway Authority’s hands.
“Commuters are getting buried,” Thompson told The News. “These state authority [boards] are unelected and unaccountable.”
Although the tolls still remain, Thompson—committed to the cause —fights on.
—Donn Esmonde
JordanA. Levy
Giving back to the community that nurtured his successful business career is an article of faith for Jordan A. Levy.
“A lot has to do with my Jewish upbringing— with pzedakah, which is Hebrew for obligation,” said the technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, whose most visible role is chairman of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. “It means those who have, take care of those who don’t.”
Since taking the reins two years ago of a project considered vital to Buffalo’s long-desired but maddeningly elusive rebirth as Queen City of the Great Lakes, Levy has helped his struggling hometown by steering the proposed Bass Pro store away from the historic Central Wharf, clearing the way for demolition of Memorial Auditorium for the outdoor store and opening the first features of the $300 million Canal Side plan—the restored Commercial Slip and new Naval and Servicemen’s Park.
“We are making progress every day,” Levy said. “I’m a business guy, so the end result is the only measure of success. Obviously, we’re not there yet. But we’re on track to make this a great project for the community for years to come.”
A partner in Softbank Capital, which invests in technology companies, Levy pursues a variety of outside interests. In addition to overseeing harbor development, he is a member of the University at Buffalo Foundation, the Fine Arts Academy of Buffalo —parent of Albright-Knox Art Gallery —and the Dominik Hasek Foundation, among other not-for-profits. He is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo and current national vice chairman of United Jewish Appeal.
He has won the UB Distinguished Alumni Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and U. S. Small Business Administration Entrepreneur Success Award, among others.
Levy, who lives in East Amherst with his wife, Holly, and sons, Adrian and Jake, leaves no doubt that his first priority is moving harbor development forward: “I really want to leave this community better than it was, and this is one of the things that will do that.”
—Tom Buckham
Michelle Stiles
Michelle Stiles did not know it would end the way it did. But her hard work and good intentions nonetheless paid off.
The former University at Buffalo basketball player, looking to help needy kids, signed on as an unpaid assistant and mentor to the McKinley High School girls basketball team. Over three years, she shaped the squad into city champions. She started a weekly basketball clinic for youngsters, staffed by many of her McKinley players. Away from the court, she served as everything from chauffeur to adviser to the girls, taking some of them on their first visit to a bookstore.
But Stiles, 45, angered principal Crystal Barton for questioning the actions of a male teacher/coach. Barton fired Stiles last year and—according to an independent report—prevented team captain Jayvonna Kincannon and other players from speaking to the School Board on the volunteer coach’s behalf. Kincannon was subsequently hit with a lengthy suspension. Although the independent report was critical of Barton and other school officials, Superintendent James Williams did not discipline the principal, who returned to McKinley this school year. Stiles stayed fired, although her stand on principle during months of controversy made her a folk hero of sorts.
Stiles, a physical therapist, has not returned to coaching. She recently said she may coach again, after the McKinley wounds heal and if she finds the right situation.
Kincannon, who credited Stiles for helping her develop as a player and a person, since has gone on to academic and athletic success at Genesee Community College. Her development is representative of the work Stiles did in building a championship team at McKinley, and of the young women she influenced through her coaching and character.
—Donn Esmonde
DemerisJohnson
Demeris Johnson never made much of a dent with the Buffalo Bills as a wide receiver. He was cut during training camp in 1996, and Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas doesn’t even remember Johnson from that camp.
But Johnson has had a huge, behind- the-scenes impact on amateur sports in Western New York, as founder of the movement that has evolved into Thurman Thomas Sports Training.
The organization has one basic goal: to provide professional performance training and skill development for athletes, primarily for underprivileged and at-risk youths. The program currently trains about 150 local athletes per week.
Johnson, who had trained scores of local athletes trying to improve their fitness and skill levels, founded Perfecting Your Performance, which blossomed from a summer camp into a year-round program.
Thomas and his business partners bought into the program in November 2007, and Thurman Thomas Sports Training was born.
Johnson has remained on board as the training director, the dynamo who makes the organization tick.
“His ties to the community have allowed us to take our program to the kids who really need it,” said John Mariacher, one of the owners and Thomas’ brother-in-law. “His first consideration always is how can he help—when, where—never why. He’s always there giving everything he can.”
Thomas said Johnson brings warmth, great communication skills and a real concern for the kids to his role. It’s not just about their 40-yard dash times or their skill levels.
“Every time he talks to a kid, he talks about how they’re doing academically at school and whether they’re doing their chores at home,” Thomas said. “He can relate to anyone, whether you’re black, white or Hispanic, skinny, fat or old.”
As Mariacher added, “He is a deeply spiritual man. First on his mind is how he can help somebody.”
—Gene Warner
JamesNowicki
James Nowicki has spent his entire life in the business of having fun. It has been a lot of work, at least for him.
Nowicki’s career in the Buffalo Parks Department is one thing, but his level of volunteering is quite another. He is well-known in the running community for his work on the Subaru 4-Mile Chase, an annual July running event that has been held for the past 28 consecutive years. And he was presented the Rainbow Award last October by the Niagara Falls International Marathon, an award given to a person who has contributed “the most to the sport of running,” according to Jim Ralston, race director of the marathon.
Nowicki capped his Parks Department years, which started in 1966, with a decade of administrative duties that ended in 2003 when he became a victim of a budget cut and retired from public service. As his running awards show, that hasn’t slowed him down.
But running is only part of it. Nowicki also is a basketball official, and he was the basketball chairman of the World University Games in Buffalo in 1993. He has been a basketball coordinator for the AAU Junior Olympics, worked as a volunteer with the Gus Macker Tournament and serves on the board of the Al Pastor Memorial Basketball Tournament.
He also served as the Buffalo co-coordinator and liaison for the U. S. Olympic Torch Relay, was a member of the Buffalo Marathon Committee and staff coordinator for the Empire State Games, and has served as an officer and director of the Buffalo Police Athletic League and as a coordinator of the Olmsted Winterfest.
—Budd Bailey
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