Concordia College to Present Bronxville Residents With Award For Volunteer Work

This fall Concordia College will present Bronxville Couple Mary and Richard Thaler Jr. with the 2010 President's Award for Excellence in Educational Service to the Community.

"I am deeply impressed by Mary and Richard's dedication to helping to expand opportunities for young people both in our local community, and far beyond. In addition, they are involved in countless facets of life in Bronxville, " said Concordia College President Viji George in a release about the award. "I'm thrilled that this year's Community Dinner will honor the Thalers on the occasion of the centennial of the College's arrival in the Village. They are the perfect couple to help us celebrate this anniversary."

Though their records of community service are both long and deep with influence reaching beyond the Village limits, the two are humble about their work and committed to the Bronxville.

"That's where we are, that's where our roots are," Mary Thaler said about Bronxville. "We care very deeply about the organizations and the college and the town."

"We're almost embarrassed [about the President's award] because there are so many people who are so deserving," she said from their Massachusetts vacation home.

The couple moved to Bronxville in 1985, and raised their now 26, 23 and 19-year old daughters in the Village.

Even as a young couple, they felt service was a core value. Mary recalled the beginning of her service career in the community.

"That goes way back," she said. "I got involved with the Junior League when I was first married. It was a good way to get involved with community, meet people. I was a stay-at-mother so I had time to get involved."

The stay-at-home mom used her degree from the University of South Carolina and work experience at Oppenheimer and Co. in public relations to help a number of local groups. She was on the Board of the Counseling Center and served for two terms on the Board of the Bronxville Historical Conservancy, along with volunteering at the Bronxville School.

During that time her husband built an accomplished career in finance—16 years at Lehman Brothers and 12 years at Deustche Bank, before founding Lieutenant Island Partners. He too uses his talents to give back.

The Princeton alum is currently President of the Board of Trustees of The Daily Princetonian and has served as a trustee of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.

His most notable project has taken him far beyond Bronxville and even Massachusetts.

For the past three years, he has taught the country's first college-level course in private equity and leveraged buyouts at Morehouse College, a historically African-American institution for men in Atlanta, Georgia.

He has brought in guest presenters, including a number of fellow Bronxville residents, to mentor students and help prepare them—mostly African-American men and women interested in careers in finance—to enter a specialty field often difficult to access for many minorities.

The weekly sojourn earned Richard a lot of frequent flier miles and even more respect for his students and their efforts.

"There's a lot to life and if you can help smart people, that's a good thing to do," he said. "If you can teach people how to win, they don't need much else."

He noted that his students at Morehouse are smart and talented. By providing them with the right information and training, he has given them an opportunity to succeed.

Mary has also been helping others succeed through an organization she's been involved with for the past decade—The All-Stars Project's Development School for Youth (DSY). The DSY offers supplemental experiences—social and educational—for inner city youth.

"The All-Star project on 42nd Street is for youth aged 16 to 21 that is based on performance-theater and improvisation," she said.

"We take them to different businesses, events, restaurants," she continued, "To make them more cosmopolitan, get them more used to being around adults."

The program provides experiences that their families too often are unable to furnish for the children. The All-Star program exposes them to a wide variety of people, along with internship experience with a sponsoring business.

Mary and Richard Thaler see their respective projects as very similar— passing along the perspective and experiences they have gained on to others who want to succeed.

Said Richard, "It's more than what you know, it's how you deal. You have to have confidence in a broader world."

For more information or to attend the 29^th annual Community Dinner, which will be held on November 3, contact Emma Oxford, Director of Community Relations, at emma.oxford@concordia-ny.edu.