Community Spirit Shines (If Not the Sun) At Brooklyn Botanic Garden Gala

The inclement weather displaced the event from the Cranford Rose Garden, but Brooklyn Botanic Garden's supporters were still rosy at the garden's annual fund-raising event tonight, which honored Dr. Peter Raven, a botanist who heads the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Independence Community Foundation, which has provided operational support to the garden.

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Our first conversation was with a program officer at the Independence Community Foundation, Stuart Post, who used to visit the garden every day during lunch, when he worked at the Brooklyn Museum. Now his offices are in DUMBO so he doesn't get over as much, which is why he made a point of stopping by the rose garden before hitting the party.

Stuart Post of the Independence Community Foundation

When we arrived at the alternative location for the party, the Palm Lily Terrace, the president of the Independence Community Foundation, Marilyn Gelber, snagged Mr. Post for the official group photo. But we were not alone for long.

BBG's president, Scot Medbury, greeted trustees Lloyd Metz and Diane Steinberg (whose husband's vineyards supplied the wine for the event), and then, us.

We tracked down some illustrious guests, such as...

.

...composer Irving Burgie (dubbed the king of calypso by Pete Seeger; he wrote dozens of songs for Harry Belafonte), center, with Myrtle Chapman, left, and Grace Lyu Volckhausen, right,

and

textile artist and founder of Longhouse Reserve, Jack Lenor Larsen, Martha Rubin, and Peter Olsen.

We then snapped an honoree and a government official looking at a loss for conversation:

Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Kate Levin, with the president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Dr. Peter Raven.

One guy who doesn't ever seem to be at a loss for conversation these days: City Council Member David Yassky (he's running for comptroller):

City Council Member David Yassky

Back to the gray skies and displacement from the rose garden. The BBG's director of communications, Leeann Lavin, was a very beautiful living substitute for the roses, from head to toe:

And guest

Angela Graham, in a hat of her own design decorated with poppies, helped create an illusion that the sun was strong.

We were reminded that the Independence Community Foundation has a funding relationship with so many Brooklyn instiitutions when Ms. Gelber introduced the head of the Brooklyn Museum, Arnold Lehman, to Rev. Gary Simpson of Concord Baptist Church of Christ:

Marilyn Gelber, Robert Jacobson, Arnold Lehman, Rev. Gary Simpson, and Emma Jordan-Simpson

But for all the strangers getting to meet each other, the event was also a gathering of old friends and family, such as:

Friends of 40 years, Morley Bland and Joanne Bailey, who met in New Haven when their husbands were attending Yales's architecture school. Mrs. Bland's husband, Frederick Bland, is chairman of BBG's board.

And

Kay Desai and son Ian Desai

and

Nancy Pearsall and her husband, preservation pioneer Otis Pearsall.

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