Martin Indyk (from left), Howard Berkowitz
and Abe Foxman |
ANTI-DEFAMATION
LEAGUE
Ambassador
Is
A Hairy Job
Story and Photos by TIM BOXER
 HEN
U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk arrived from Israel to address a
dinner of the Anti-Defamation League, he was schlepping his tuxedo.
He was surprised to discover that the banquet at the Plaza, honoring
Howard P. Berkowitz, ADL’s former national chairman, was
not black tie after all.
Upon reflection, it made
sense. Berkowitz is renowned for his colorful bow ties, a permanent
part of his sartorial setup. So if his dinner is formal, how could
he stand out?
Dinner chairman Paul
Roth asked Mrs. Indyk how he should introduce her husband.
Ellen
and Murray Koppelman |
“Say he’s a very nice
man, very smart,” she said, “and before he took this job he had
a full head of hair.”
The ballroom was
overflowing for the Berkowitz tribute, including such as Ann
and Kenneth Bialkin, May and Arnold Forster, Ellen and
Murray Koppelman, Lester Pollack, Peter May, Daniel Tisch,
and Howard’s brother, Steven, an investment banker in
Chicago, among many others.
“Howard,” Roth said,
“your prowess as an investor has made it possible for your many
friends and family to buy tables tonight.”
Ann and Kenneth Bialkin |
Roth, who’s a lawyer,
recounted how his father, Zuckerbrot, came from Eastern Europe at
age 10. He applied to law school and was rejected. He took his
mother’s maiden name, Roth, “for which we are eternally
grateful,” Howard said, and applied again. He was admitted.
As national chairman Glen
Tobias put it, “We at ADL not only hope for a better society
but we make it happen.”
Steven and Howard Berkowitz |
National
director Abe Foxman presented Berkowitz with the
organization’s Americanism Award and quipped, “Only in America
can we make a seder plate an Americanism award.”
|
