DCC Foundation Gala to Honor Four, Raise Funds for Student Scholarships
March 10, 2015 – The Dutchess Community College Foundation’s annual Gala – Community’s Bridge to the Future – will be held on Saturday, March 28 at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie. The event will honor four local individuals and raise funds for student scholarships.
John Coppola ’82 and Lisa Cathie ’86 will be inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame, Robert Dyson will receive The Bernard Handel Community Leadership Award and Emil Panichi will be honored with the inaugural Bridge to the Future Award.
Coppola, along with his brothers, owns and operates two namesake restaurants, a catering service, Coppola Gourmet Sauces and the Village Square Motel. He is the president of the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and member of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Dutchess County Tourism board.
Cathie is president, CEO and trustee of Ulster Savings Bank. Prior to joining Ulster, she was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Orange County Trust Company and regional vice president of Hudson United Bank. She serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council, the Marist College board, the Bardavon/Ulster Performing Arts Center board and the executive committee and board of directors for Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress.
Dyson has been president of the Dyson Foundation since 2000. The organization made grants of over $18.6 million in 2012, continuing the tradition started in 1954 by his father, Charles H. Dyson. The Foundation supports colleges, hospitals, arts programs and community centers, and was a major supporter of the Walkway Over the Hudson.
Panichi is the owner of Royal Carting, a rubbish removal firm he purchased in 1955 that now serves parts of Westchester County north to Albany and parts of Connecticut. Panichi has been a past director and president of the East Fishkill Lions Club, past director of the Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce and board member of the Mid Hudson Savings Bank and its successors, Fidelity Bank and First Union Bank.
Gala sponsors include Bonura Hospitality Group, Absolute Auctions and Realty, the Poughkeepsie Journal, Rhinebeck Bank, Q92.1, Royal Carting, Ulster Savings Bank, IBM and Health Quest. Sponsorship opportunities are available.
The cost for the evening is $160 per person. Call Diana Pollard, DCC Foundation acting executive director, at (845) 431-8403 for more information.
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Founded in 1957, Dutchess Community College is a two-year community college that has earned a reputation for providing an outstanding education at the lowest tuition in New York state. Its main campus is in Poughkeepsie, with a satellite campus in Wappingers Falls. For more information, visit www.sunydutchess.edu.
