ALUMNI NEWS
Dan Straus (’81), Law School Trustee, Names Professorship in Honor of His Father With a gift totaling $1.5 million, Law School Trustee Dan Straus (’81) has created the Joseph Straus Professorship at NYU Law in memory of his beloved father. Dean Richard Revesz said, “I am delighted that Dan has chosen to memorialize his father in such a meaningful way. A chaired professorship is the most important gift that can be given to an academic institution. It is a most worthy legacy and a wonderful way for the Straus family name to be carried on
at the Law School in perpetuity. As a trustee, Dan understands that chaired professorships are critical to the Law School’s ability to draw outstanding faculty. I can think of no better way for a son to remember his father at the school that served them both so well.” After graduating from NYU Law in 1981, Dan Straus spent a few years working as an associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. In
The Changing Face of the Development Office at NYU Law The new year brought a bittersweet change to NYU Law’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations. After 12 years of loyal service and commitment to the Law School community, Associate Dean Debra LaMorte
undertook a new challenge in her ever onward and upward career. On January 1, LaMorte became the Senior Vice President for External Relations at New York University. LaMorte’s many friends will miss
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1984, he and his brother Moshael formed The Multicare Companies Inc. to manage four nursing home facilities that their father, NYU Law alumnus Joseph Straus (’37, LL.M. ’43), left to their mother after he passed away in 1978. Dan expanded the company, took it public in 1993, and sold the company in 1997. At the time of the sale, Multicare operated over 170 longterm and assisted care facilities with approximately 17,500 beds in 11 states. In 1998, he formed the Straus Family Group to manage his family’s holdings, and in 2001, with the valuations of long-term care companies down, he re-entered the market, purchasing 78 long-term care facilities. Dan Straus was inducted onto the Law School Board of Trustees in 1998. ■
seeing her around Vanderbilt Hall, but are also justifiably proud of her well-deserved promotion. Working in tandem with NYU President-Designate John Sexton, LaMorte will no doubt prove to be as valuable an asset to the entire University as she was to the Law School. Thankfully, she will never be too far from “home.” To recognize her unwavering leadership and innumerable contributions to the development and alumni relations initiatives at the Law School, LaMorte was honored at a surprise luncheon hosted by Law Trustee Bonnie Feldman Reiss (’69). Sexton, LaMorte’s mentor and development partner over the past dozen years, thanked her for the leadership, grace, and friendship she has given to the Law School. Jeannie Forrest, NYU Law’s Director of Alumni Relations, has accepted the position of Assistant Dean of Development and Alumni Relations. Forrest has been a part of our community for the last eight years and is already family. She brings to her new post a powerful résumé, a dedication to the Law School’s mission, an in-depth knowledge of the School’s history and culture, as well as a warmth felt by all of her professional colleagues. Before heading up the Alumni Relations team, Forrest was the Program Director for the Institute of Judicial Administration (IJA) and is highly regarded by the hundreds of judges with whom she worked. ■
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