Stamford Magazine, Sept-Oct 2020

////

to p d e n t i s t s //// 215 Professionals to Trust Now in Fairfield County ////

STAMFORD STATUS REPORT • BUZZ BLM MURAL How we painted the city • DO ART WALK Appreciating our outdoor art pieces

S EPT/OCT 2020 | $5.95

HOW WE SEE IT

ON THE MOVE Three of our teens to watch: Campbell Beaver, Sydney Coffield and Sophia Viscarello

Driven, determined and multitalented, the next generation is breaking up the status quo

Let’s Talk

Winning Style

Time for Romance

Continuing the conversation about race

A-List guide to home design experts

Local wedding pros help you create a celebration you’ll love

SPECIAL REPORT A deep dive into the Jennifer Dulos case

121 Towne, Stamford CT (right next to Fairway) 203 . 541 . 5770 T H E DE V C OLLE C T IV E

TAC ODA D D YS TAM F O RD

Coming This Fall

contents SEPT/OCT 2020 vol. 11 | no. 5

features

40

departments

26

12 EDITOR’S LETTER

by diane talbot sembrot

TEENS TO WATCH

15 STATUS REPORT

Move over twenty-somethings, a fresh new batch of go-getters is set to take the stage—and from a look at all of their achievements so far, they’re going to rule. Everyone else, use their stories as inspiration to dig deeper, do more and seize the day.

BUZZ Black-owned businesses

by dia ne se m brot

58

WHERE IS SHE? A deep look into the Jennifer Dulos case and domestic abuse in Fairfield County.

Now is the time to know the signs and not keep silent, so that others might seek help.

Reading up on race BLM Street Mural

24

by t i mot h y d um as

72

GO

VOWS Special Weddings Section: Advice from the Pros

Anyone need something to smile about? How about finding a really good dentist,? Here’s you local guide to professionals you can trust.

HOME

38 FINANCE FIX

When family asks for money.

AW TS und IST A-L INALISment aroour F rove miss

91 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 92 POSTSCRIPT by d onna mof f ly top: “The Cube” part of the Stamford’s large array of outdoor art below: BLM street mural

on the c over: campbell by natasha miller, tasho gr aph, sydney by steven vandervelden | vandy photo gr aphy and sophia by richard freeda STAMFORD MAGAZINE SEPT/OCT 2020, VOL. 11, NO. 5. // STAMFORD MAGAZINE is published bimonthly by Moffly Media, Inc., 205 Main St., Westport, CT 06880.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes (Form 3579) to STAMFORD MAGAZINE, P.O. BOX 9309, Big Sandy, TX 75755-9607. stamfordmag.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARVIN BURKE; BOOK, CONTRIBUTED

Workspace design in the age of Covid-19

78ARDS

mp Don’t ion t ing i ?

Mak house celebra and the nnual cture . a chite sign of ar erior de int

The CEO of ONS

Toyota review

TOP DENTISTS

pg.

Walking guide to outdoor art

Virtual Visits mean there’s a doctor wherever you are Get the care you need virtually anywhere Your place. Your time. Your peace of mind. Connecting to a primary care, urgent care or specialty doctor or clinician has never been easier. Whether you have allergies, cold/flu symptoms or need a follow-up appointment, Virtual Visits are a convenient way to get the care you need, wherever you are. It’s just one more way we’re here for you.

New and existing patients can start at

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sep/oct 2020

STAMFORDMAG.com

CELEBRATING THE SCENE STEALERS OF OUR CITY

INSTAGRAM LIVE!

SUMMER SERIES

Join us online as host DAVE BRIGGS interviews compelling and interesting local people about the biggest topics today.

Craig Melvin

JUMP ONLINE

Visit our directories for resources

News anchor on NBC’s Today Show

Jane Green New York Times bestselling author

Jim Marpe First Selectman of Westport

DON’T MISS OUR LATEST ARTICLES AND MORE!

We cover many topics: race, education, youth sports, protests, running a business during Covid-19 and more.

We also have some fun, including favorite local places and must-try cocktails.

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CAROLINE SCHIFF HEADSHOT BY ANGELO TUCCI; MANNA TOAST BY STACY BASS; CLOSET BY ©AFRICA STUDIO - STOCK.ADOBE.COM; SMARTPHONE BY ©I380632883310 - STOCK.ADOBE.COM; CRAIG MELVIN © 2017 NBC UNIVERSAL MEDIA, LLC; JANE GREEN, COURTESY IG @JANEGREENAUTHOR; JIM MARPE, CONTRIBUTED

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vol. 11 | no. 5 | sept/oct 2020 creative director

Amy Vischio–amy.vischio@moffly.com

editorial

executive editor

Cristin Marandino–cristin.marandino@moffly.com editor, stamford; fairfield living; westport Diane Sembrot–diane.sembrot@moffly.com market editor

Megan Gagnon–megan.gagnon@moffly.com contributing editors

Elizabeth Hole–editor, custom publishing Julee Kaplan–editor, new canaan • darien copy editors

Terry Christofferson, Kathryn Satterfield contributing writers

Personalized Service* Local Expertise* Global Exposure

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WEALTH TRANSFER TAX PLANNING PHILANTHROPY DAVIDSON, DAWSON & CLARK LLP COUNSELLORS AT LAW 60 East 42nd Street New York, NY 212-557-7700

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sales & marketing Gabriella Mays publisher, westport•weston•wilton gabriella.mays@moffly.com Jonathan Moffly publisher, athome, new canaan•darien, fairfield living jonathan.moffly@moffly.com Jennifer Frank account executive jennifer.frank@moffly.com Hilary Hotchkiss account executive hilary.hotchkiss@moffly.com Rick Johnson account executive rick.johnson@moffly.com Jennifer Petersen account executive jennifer.petersen@moffly.com Kathleen Godbold partnership and big picture manager kathleen.godbold@moffly.com Rachel Shorten events director rachel.shorten@moffly.com

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Outdoor Patio | Inside Dining | Curbside Pickup Late Night Food Menu Available until Midnight on Friday & Saturday Nights

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THE BEST ORTHOPEDICS

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Our team of experts remains dedicated to making safe, responsible musculoskeletal care available – wherever you are.

To learn more about our in-person and virtual appointment options, visit HSS.edu/StamfordHealth

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editor’s letter

SEPT/OCT 2020 / DIANE TALBOT SEMBROT

I

SAY IT LOUD!

The new art piece, Stamford!, was created by design firm Guide Studio. It’s located at Rippowam Place.

Explore art sculptures on public display around the city.

See more on pages 26-27.

think our generation is defined by change.

We are acutely aware of the injustices in our society and are not afraid to fight for change.”

For our “Teens to Watch” feature, for which we focus on nine outstanding local students, we asked about this generation—what defines it? Each answer circled around the same point: change, being proactive and speaking out against injustice. They are empowered to use their voices and can’t see it any other way; that is, that their voice would not be heard or diminished in any way. Quite the opposite, actually. They are boldly facing the challenges of our time. They not only look at racial issues, climate change, poverty and marginalized populations, they also feel empowered to act on it. It’s not enough to know; one must also do.

While the summer of 2020 has been challenging, it has also introduced an opportunity for change: to not just see, but to get involved. And this is entirely clear in the Black Lives Matter movement. When the street mural transformed Broad Street outside the Ferguson Library, the community was invited to participate, to make a positive and bold expression.

So, what could we do? The magazine decided to answer that with stories in this issue. We have pages highlighting the street mural, coverage of black-owned businesses in the area, resources for developing one’s understanding of race, and, of course, unvarnished inspiration from the younger

stamfordmag.com

12

generation. If they can boldly seek change, so can the rest of us—challenge our perceptions and biases. Awareness is step one. Changing behavior is step two. They are left foot, right foot, and leading us forward.

With that boldness in mind, we also asked senior writer Timothy Dumas to look at the Jennifer Dulos case and at domestic violence.

It’s not something we talk to one another about. It’s usually a secret within families. We explore the issue to better understand why it happens and what can be done to stop it.

It’s hard to believe it happens here, especially when you’re walking around downtown or pushing the stroller through a park— everything seems carefree. Yet some are suffering. If we don’t acknowledge this—and why it happens—it can’t get better.

As I write this, I don’t know where we will be in September—not education, socialdistancing restrictions, social and culture protests or anything. I am sure of one thing: We’ll handle it. I saw how we handled the initial Covid-19 crisis. We did what was necessary. And I see how our teens—who had to cope with so many disruptions—exhibited not only resiliency, but also determination.

Let’s be bold. Let’s stay positive. Let’s love and protect our community. If I can steal a slogan and put our own twist on it: Let’s stay Stamford tough.

PHOTOGRAPHY: WILLIAM TAUFIC; ART PIECE, JOHN VARAMO

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buzz STATUS REPORT

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

SUPPORTING BLACK BUSINESS OWNERS in Fairfield County

KITT SHAPIRO BY JERRY GRAHAM; KELVIN SMITH BY ANNA PAULA PACHECO

Kitt Shapiro, owner of West boutique

by jill johnson

Kelvin Smith, owner of Hustle gym

T

he video footage of the brutal death of George Floyd elicited a collective gasp of horror from our country, ubiquitous protests and fervent dinnertable discussions. We know Black lives matter; we know white privilege has nudged many of us along the path to cushy homes in towns with top-ranking schools; but many of us don’t know how to further racial equality beyond turning our Instagram stories black.

KELVIN SMITH, owner of the gym Hustle, offers some encouraging input. “Personally, I haven’t felt any racial bias in New Canaan,” he says. “The owners of the building where I lease the gym—all white men—have been amazing. I go in local stores and know people on a first-name basis. I’ve even been pulled over by police, and they’ve been nice and say, ‘Hey, you’re speeding a little. Just take it easy.’” Smith, who lives in Stamford, brought his fouryear-old daughter to New Canaan’s Black Lives Matter protest. But he emphasizes there’s more we can do: “Educate yourself on true Black history—not just Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King Jr. Educate your children. That’s the huge thing, so when they become leaders, they are exposed to other cultures and empathetic. With exposure and education, our society will be so much better. You can donate and march now, but it’s truly about the future.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

15

Dr. Kim Nichols, owner of NicholsMD and SkinLab

DR. KIM NICHOLS, who owns NicholsMD of Greenwich and SkinLab in Stamford, agrees. “As a mother, I believe having meaningful conversations with your children about racism and social injustices in our country is a great start,” she says. “As a business owner and Black woman, I encourage companies to hire from diverse technical programs, colleges and universities.” She adds,

“Sometimes I am told—both explicitly and implicitly—that I wouldn’t have succeeded if not for special treatment due to affirmative action initiatives; in other words, that I can’t compete on merit alone. My answer is just to continue to work hard, be proud of who I am and to try to be a model for others.”

CLAUDETTE ROTHMAN owns Claudette’s in Old Greenwich, an eclectic women’s stamfordmag.com

16

clothing and accessories store “catering to women of every age, body type and economic status.” She is grateful for the support of “this fantastic community. I have lived in Greenwich for more than twenty-five years, and I’ve owned my store for over eight years.

I see myself as a local businessperson who happens to be a woman and a person of color, and I hope that’s how my customers view me.”

Unless they are aware famous singer Eartha Kitt is her mom, customers don’t realize the owner of the boutique West in Westport has an African American background. KITT SHAPIRO bought the boutique two years ago—perfectly encapsulated in the tagline: If Chanel and Jimi Hendrix had a daughter.

Shapiro says, “I know people look at me— my mother was Black and my father White— and don’t realize it because of my skin tone. I grew up hearing stories of my mother’s life in the South. Those stories are still in existence in more places than we realize, and that’s clear from the news. It’s really important, as uncomfortable as it is, that we all talk about it. I walk into a store and don’t get prejudged because of my skin color. We need to realize we are not all treated the same, just based on how we look. We live in a bubble a lot of the time and don’t want to face the reality.

We need to keep the conversation going.”

Shapiro also emphasizes the urgency to support local businesses now so that they can survive, which in turn bolsters the community connection we are all craving.

JERRI GRAHAM, a Black woman, photographer and Westport mom, offered two straightforward suggestions in Dan Woog’s 06880 blog: foster relationships with your Black neighbors and “put your money where your mouth is; support Black-owned companies.” To help you do that, we have compiled a list of businesses in Fairfield County that have Black owners or partners.

Please join us in growing this directory by sending us any listings we missed (email us at editor@stamfordmag.com) and we will add it to our list at ilovefc.com/ blackownedbusinesses. Let’s keep the conversation going.

CONTRIBUTED

buzz

PLACES SHOPS CLAUDETTE’S Women’s Clothing 177 Sound Beach Avenue Old Greenwich 203-990-0600 claudettestyles.com

OWNER: CLAUDETTE ROTHMAN

INSIDE THE ARMOIRE Fine Lingerie 45 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich 203-422-2055

OWNER: PAULINE SIMPSON

LACE AFFAIRE

Lingerie, Swimwear, Gifts 23 Danbury Road, Wilton 203-529-3793 laceaffaire.com

OWNER: CARLINE DEAN

WEST

Women’s Clothing 117 Post Road East, Westport 203-557-4157 west2westport.com

YOU WILL O L VE TO

SHOP, VISIT, BOOK & EAT

HUSTLE 45 Grove Street, New Canaan 203-807-2300 hustlefitness andathletics.com

OWNER: KELVIN SMITH

PURE BARRE 280 Railroad Avenue, Greenwich 203-489-3500 purebarre.com/location/ greenwich-ct

OWNER: ASHLEY ALLEN

REVOLUTION TRAINING 579 Pacific Street, Stamford 203-355-2666 revolutiontrainingct .com

OWNER: AHMAD MICKENS

S E RV I C E S ALEXANDRE1983 PHOTOGRAPHY Stamford alxphotog.com

OWNER: ADRIAN ALEXANDRE ALLEN

OWNERS: PAUL AND BRIAN HERMAN

Stamford thesolhaus.com

OWNER: DEMETRIUS GLOVER

SUPER SCISSORS

70 Danbury Road, Wilton 203-770-0321 ctlashbrow.com

OWNER: GISELE WORKMAN TYLER

OWNER: MELISHA NEWELL

LEARN TECH TEACH

HANDYMAN/ CARPENTRY

Online Course Development

100 Stuart Avenue, Norwalk, 203-829-8245

330 Railroad Avenue, Greenwich 347-554-7706 learntechteach.com

OWNER: JAMES TRUITT

OWNER: KHAITSA WASIYO

WILTON PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY 101 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton 203-529-1242 wiltonpediatricdentistry .com

OWNER: GREG MOORE

GATEWAY ART AND FRAMING 33 Danbury Road, Wilton 203-834-0020

OWNER: GORDON FLASH

JERRI GRAHAM PHOTOGRAPHY 18 Riverside Avenue, Westport 203-803-5485 jerrigrahamphotography .com

OWNER: JERRI GRAHAM

190 Main Street, Westport 203-293-4564 190mainwestport.com

CHEZ COBY Haitian

OWNER: DR. ASHLEIGH SEBRO

MR. BEEZ WINDOWS & CLEANING, LLC

WINNING APPLICATIONS

203-334-2067

OWNER: BILLY THOMPSON

College Admissions Prep 73 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton 203-762-6500 winning applications.com

PICTURE THAT Art Consultants 203-977-8203 picturethatart.com

OWNER: STEPHANIE KLEIN WASSINK

FOUNDING OWNER: VALERIE COOPER

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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NO LEFTOVERS

Jamaican/Caribbean 182 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk 203-318-6250 noleftovers restaurant .com

OWNER: LLOYD MELLAD

PEOPLE’S CHOICE JAMAICAN AMERICAN RESTAURANT

111 Main Street, Norwalk 203-956-5625

Jamaican 77 Wall Street, Norwalk 203-838-8272

OWNER: MARGARET CHERY

OWNER: DUDLEY FOSTER

HERB’S PLACE

SOUL TASTY

Hair Salon 1 Danbury Road, Wilton 203-210-7250 superscissorswilton .business.site

203-650-5295

2215 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield 203-916-4949 doubleupdancestudio.com

Wellness Events

LASH BROW CENTER

OWNER: MARC ANDRE

190 MAIN Seafood and Tapas

SOLHAUS

OWNER: CARLINE DEAN

HEATING/AC/ PROPANE SERVICE AND MANAGEMENT

R E STAU R A N T S/ C AT E R I NG

OWNER: MELISSA GORMAN

23 Danbury Road, Wilton 203-762-6140 illuminationsalon.com

FITNESS

DOUBLE UP DANCE STUDIO

OWNER: KIM NICHOLS

ILLUMINATION SALON AND COLOR BAR

34 Sherman Street, Fairfield 203-979-0589 mgandregroup.com

OWNER: LYNROY NELSON

50 Old Field Point Road, Greenwich, 203-8624000; 24 Harbor Point Road, Stamford, 203-862-4006 kimnicholsmd.com

OWNER: DR. KIKELOMO OTUYELU-GARRITANO

MARC G. ANDRE ARCHITECTS

10 Bay Street, Westport 203-557-3040

Dermatologist, SkinLab

65 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton 203-409-2539 herwellnesshealthcenter .com

OWNER: KITT SHAPIRO

BODY PULSE FITNESS CENTER

KIM NICHOLS MD

HER WELLNESS CENTER

Food Truck 120 Water Street, Norwalk herbsplacenorwalk.net

OWNER: HERB EDMONDSON

JEFF’S BBQ & CATERING BBQ, Rubs and Sauces 203-852-0041 jeffsbbqandcatering.com

OWNER: JEFF ESAW

LA PERLE

AmericanCaribbean Cuisine 15 Bank Street, Stamford, 203-388-8600 laperlect.com

OWNERS: SMITH ST. JUSTE, PETER MEDOIT, HAROLD JEAN-FELIX

MISS BARBARA JEAN’S SOUL FOOD Soul Food

115 Main Street, Norwalk 203-939-9598 msbarbarajeans.com

OWNER: BARBARA JEAN

Soul Food 29 Main Street, Stamford 203-504-2625 soultastyct.com

OWNER: JEAN GABRIEL

TACO DADDY Contemporary Mexican 121 Towne Street, Stamford 203-541-5770 tacodaddy stamford.com

PARTNER: MO MAJOR

TEFF Ethiopian/Eritrean 113 West Main Street, Stamford 203-998-7474 teffstamford.com

OWNERS: MEKONENMENGESHA FAMILY

EMAIL US AT EDITOR@ STAMFORDMAG .COM IF THERE ARE OTHER LOCAL BUSINESSES WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT.

7

DEN BROA R YOU IVE ECT PERSP s by 2 I’M STILL HERE: BLACK DIGNITY IN A WORLD MADE FOR WHITENESS Austin Channing Brown chronicles

1

her life growing up Black, Christian and female in white middle-class America.

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME Ta-Nehisi Coates’s

powerful book is an essay to his son about his life and race in America.

grow No one nding surrou with a elves thems ry that just enta comm es their own c o pick reinf r ns, so io t p e perc ks that up boo . ge you challen ellent An exc support e is to avenu k-owned Blac e Lit like th s e r o t books (thelitbar Bar the hich is the w , ) m .co re in ooksto only b We suggest .

Bronx t its ing ou check g list, readin People.”

White “Dear

5 SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE

3

4

HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST

MAKE CHANGE

Ibram X. Kendi uses personal experiences, history and science to show how people can create an antiracist society. It is often sold out, so try the audiobook version read by the author.

Shaun King reflects on his life as a Black Lives Matter leader and lays out a plan of action for how you can join the fight to make a more equitable America.

7

6 WHITE FRAGILITY: WHY IT’S SO HARD FOR WHITE PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT RACISM Robin DiAngelo

examines how white defensiveness can be a roadblock and how to engage in a meaningful, constructive dialogue.

Ijeoma Oluo demonstrates how to have useful conversations about race in America.

ME AND WHITE SUPREMACY: COMBAT RACISM, CHANGE THE WORLD, AND BECOME A GOOD ANCESTOR Layla F. Saad’s

book comes with worksheets and opportunities for reflection, for anyone who wants to make a change but isn’t sure where to start.

stamfordmag.com

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CONTRIBUTED

NONFICTION

buzz

buzz

ANTIRACISM W STARTS AT HOME “DO THE BEST YOU CAN UNTIL YOU KNOW BETTER. THEN WHEN YOU KNOW BETTER, DO BETTER.” – M AYA ANG E LOU

e all have to strive to know better, to ask difficult questions, learn and evolve. Even the youngest of our children are asking tough questions that don’t have easy answers. Kids want to know more about social justice and what they have seen on social media, the news, and at protests that occurred around the world and in our own town. Raising socially aware children to not just advocate for themselves but for the rights of others is the responsibility of every parent.

We need to be antiracist, overtly striving to recognize areas of prejudice in our lives and actively working to make changes. Taking the time to learn more about the subject helps lay the foundation for more thoughtful conversations with your children. Here are some resources to help get those conversations started.

4

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND THE NICKEL BOYS Colson Whitehead’s

THE BLUEST EYE Toni Morrison’s books are all

worth your time; but if you haven’t read The Bluest Eye, it’s an excellent entry point. Slim and life-changing.

11 THE HATE U GIVE Angie Thomas’s

protagonist bridges the dual worlds of her private prep school and her urban neighborhood until those worlds collide.

This is a perfect read for teens.

2 ANTIRACIST BABY Ibram X. Kendi’s adult book is

now a picture book for young children with illustrations

by Ashley Lukashevsky. It challenges parents and children to uproot racism in our world and in ourselves with bold art and thoughtful but playful words.

5 THE WATER DANCER Ta-Nehisi Coates’s highly-praised

fictional debut tells the story of an enslaved man who gets involved with the Underground Railroad. stamfordmag.com

20

5

CONTRIBUTED

3

FICTION

Pulitzer Prize-winning novels are must-reads.

The Nickel Boys, tells the story of tormented reform school boys.

The Underground Railroad is an alternate history novel that’s set to debut as a limited Amazon series.

singular in design “Edgy incarnations of luxury” Condé Nast Traveler

winvianfarm.com

RESOURCES

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here to help LEAN ON LOCAL

4

1

FROM THE START 1619 This New York Times podcast tells the story of the first ship of slaves to arrive in Virginia and takes listeners on a six-episode journey that leads to today.

The YWCA of Greenwich’s tag line is “eliminating racism, empowering women,” and it takes that mission seriously. Every April it sponsors a Stand Against Racism event at Greenwich Town Hall and gives out two Social Justice Scholarships.

This past June the organization hosted a Zoom conversation with Jenna Arnold (author of Raising Our Hands: How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility, and Find Our Place On the New Frontlines) and Denise Hamilton (founder of WatchHerWork).

Visit ywcagreenwich.org and check out Denise Hamilton’s website watchherwork .com for events like “Ask Me Anything: A Candid Conversation About Race.”

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MOVIES Hold a family movie night and select movies that inform and broaden your perspective.

Commonsensemedia .org is an excellent resource for checking out plot specifics and age appropriateness.

FOR OLDER TEENS When They See Us and 13th help to open the door for family conversations on the topics of race, equity and mass incarceration.

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GO GLOBAL

WEB SERIES THE NEXT QUESTION: A WEB SERIES IMAGINING HOW EXPANSIVE RACIAL JUSTICE CAN BE This web series engages leading voices on critical topics of racial justice in America. Created by best-selling author Austin Channing Brown, Season 1 is now available and features Nikole Hannah Jones, Andre Henry, Brené Brown and more (tnqshow .com). Brown also hosts a podcast series, The Anti-Racist Pod Squad, and looks at how to practice social justice during a pandemic (austinchanning .substack.com). stamfordmag.com

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punishment and racial inequality. The website has award-winning videos, insightful reports and educational content.

BLACK LIVES MATTER blacklivesmatter.com

The site features a number of downloadable toolkits for families. The toolkits TalkAboutTrayvon and TrayvonTaughtMe are good places for parents to learn about Black Lives Matter and share the story of the young life that sparked a movement.

EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE eji.org

The organization works to end mass incarceration, excessive

I SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR JUSTICE benjerry.com

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream is a strong proponent of social justice. Its website features content on systemic racism, mass incarceration and other topics, with videos, ideas of things you can do and opportunities to sign petitions and advocate for change. S

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above: The street mural is protest art, aimed to get pedestrian and vehicular traffic attention, with a twist on bold yellow lettering found in other major U.S. cities. opposite page: Sixteen professional artists from Fairfield County started the letters along Broad Street and Ferguson Library Plaza, and people in the community were invited to fill in with paint.

art speaks out H O W S T A M F O R D T E L L S T H E W O R L D T H A T BLACK LIVES MATTER by diane sembrot

photo gr aphy by garvin burke

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n a hot July day, people set up tents, arranged piles of sports drinks and stacked cans of paint. It would be a day of mediation and chalk art; remarks from local dignitaries and a poetry slam; and story time for kids and voter registration information for adults.

It would culminate in an artistic Black Lives Matter Street Mural running alongside Ferguson Library Plaza. The event was sponsored

by The Ferguson Library and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), with donations from This Is the Place!

Stamford Downtown, DOMUS, New England Donor Services, Inspirica, 100 Black Men of Stamford, Solhaus, and Winfield. The official curators, Picture That Art Consultants (picturethatart.com/blm), brought together artists, activists and the community to create a message about the importance of black lives. stamfordmag.com

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ART WALK

H AL F A C E N TU R Y O F SCULPTURES ON DISPLAY IN F ULL VIE W (AN D F R E E ADMI SSI ON!) by diane sembrot

phot o gr aphy by garvin burke e

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3 OF VARAMO’S MUST-SEE PICKS

tuck in the house? Go for a walk and see Stamford with the eyes of a newcomer. Refresh your state of mind by adding art appreciation of outdoor pieces.

You’ve always been too busy to get up close to the sculptures around the city; take time now. To help, we’ve done a bit of background on a few. We admit, some well-known and spectacular pieces aren’t listed here—for example, Stamford Luminata (it needs new lights) and Within Reach (the courtyard of Stamford Plaza office buildings is private property and likely currently closed due to Covid-19). You’ll find plenty more across the city and even up at the Bendel Mansion at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center (stamfordmuseum.org). This mini-guide is indebted to JOHN VARAMO, program manager for Stamford Arts & Culture for sharing his expertise. More at choosestamford.com/visit.

1 fabricated: 1957 artist: Robert Cronbach title of art: Waves location: Summer Street Garage Facade, Summer Place Entrance

THRUST (4) “Russian artist Alexander Liberman created Thrust in 1980, and it’s his classic big and bold style. Three more of his sculptures are at the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, New York.”

MORNING SUN, NOONDAY SUN, EVENING SUN (3) “This beautiful piece was created

by Jean Woodham in 1972 for GE’s campus.

BLT purchased the office building and got the sculptures. They display them at the entrance of their new Harbor Landing.”

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2 fabricated: 1964 artist: Reuben Nakian title of art: Hecuba location: Kiwanis Park, 61 Atlantic St.

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3 fabricated: 1972 artist: Jean Woodham title: Morning Sun, Noonday, Evening Sun location: Harbor Landing's Courtyard

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4 fabricated: 1980 artist: Alexander Liberman title of art: Thrust location: 1600 Summer St.

5 fabricated: 1984 artist: Reuben Nakian title of art: Sea Odyssey location: Old Town Hall Garden, 175 Atlantic St.

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SEA ODYSSEY (5) “Reuben Nakian was a Stamford-based sculptor of international acclaim with works at Guggenheim, the Whitney and the Smithsonian. Sea Odyssey depicts an almost ethereal scene of a young woman swimming with dolphins."

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MUST-SEE MURALS

Stamford can boast many sculptures on public display, but here are a few painted works worth seeing.

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Black Lives Matter This protest-and-awareness street mural was created downtown. artist: multiple location: corner of Broad St. and Bedford St. at Ferguson Library

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6 fabricated: 1989 artist: Mary Preminger title of art: The Cube location: 300 Atlantic St.

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7 fabricated: 1999 artist: Brian Clarke title of art: Stamford Cove location: Gateway Park, 677 Washington Blvd.

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Life Is Beautiful Jean Gabriel, business owner of Soul Tasty, commissioned the mural to be done as a way to brighten up the neighborhood. artist: Don Balladin location: 29 Main St. (at Clinton Ave.)

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fabricated: 2012 artist: Kevin Barrett title of art: Big Cat location: Vela on the Park, 1011 Washington Blvd.

fabricated: 2017 artist: Katie DeGregory title of art: Pirรกmide Bermudas location: Gay St.

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Stamford Art Association Mural Rainbow droplets of paint dancing on the side of the two-story building artist: Bob Jones location: 39 Franklin St.

buzz

HOMETOWN CEO NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF ONS, TIM CORVINO, MD RETURNS TO HIS ROOTS

by eliz abeth hole

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You joined ONS in February. Then the pandemic hit. What kind of challenges did you face?

The biggest change when I first arrived at ONS was working through the COVID-19 crisis while staying focused on the future and growth opportunities for the next two to five years. Organizations need to continually evolve to remain vital and relevant. I knew it was important to be disciplined about looking ahead beyond the immediate circumstances.

What’s the best part about being back in your hometown?

So much. It feels like home; I love the community; and I’m so excited for my wife, Dina, and my two children, Emma and Liam, to experience living here. The beaches, the food, the Yankees... the list goes on and on.

How did your background in emergency medicine prepare you for your new position?

One of the unique attributes of emergency medicine is that you

Besides sports medicine, what are the other specialties there?

ONS is fortunate to have 26 fellowship-trained physicians with expertise in the full spectrum of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries. Along with sports medicine, we provide minimally invasive orthopedic, spine and brain surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, outpatient and inpatient joint replacement, trauma and physical therapy.

work with physicians in every specialty in medicine and surgery, each of which has a unique set of challenges. Part of my role as CEO at ONS is to make sure our specialists are best equipped to deliver the highest level of care to patients today and in the future.

With my understanding of the specific needs of ONS specialists, I am able to work closely with them to shape our future as a practice.

It sounds like healthcare is in your blood. How did that experience inspire you to become a physician?

My mother and father were extremely important in shaping my career in healthcare. I learned a lot from my dad about the importance of serving the needs of the community and putting the patient first and foremost in the center of all decisions. While president of Greenwich Hospital, my dad worked with an incredible team of professionals. I learned so much from getting to know each of them. I also learned the importance of working as a team and the art of compromise. My mother’s influence was equally important. She served as the Director of Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center for 20 years. I was a pharmacy intern at the

ONS physicians serve as team doctors for New Canaan High School and Darien football and lacrosse. Are your doctors involved in other local organizations?

Working with patients of all ages to keep them healthy and active is central to our mission. ONS physicians provide team support to more than a dozen youth sports organizations in our area, including Greenwich High School, Greenwich Academy, Iona Prep and White Plains High School.

We also provide injury prevention programs for coaches, parents and student athletes to help our youth avoid injuries that can affect their play, and perhaps become a chronic problem later in life.

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later part of her career, where I was fortunate to witness so many memorable moments with her that still impact my approach to healthcare delivery today. I never contemplated a career outside of medicine because of them.

What are some of your goals as CEO? The primary goal is to continue our mission of providing the highest standard of orthopedic and neurosurgical care through professional collaboration and compassion for our patients.

With the emphasis on safety, we launched the telemedicine services and adapted our medical offices to meet CDC standards. We are also presenting patients in need of joint replacement with a same day, outpatient option, so they can recover in the comfort and safety of home. Looking ahead, my goal is to make it possible for ONS to stay ahead of the pack with cutting-edge innovation and patient-centered care and expand our unique brand of care through strategic partnerships with practices that share our high standards and values. With the support and commitment throughout the entire rganization, I know we will accomplish great things.

CONTRIBUTED

fter growing up in Greenwich and working in Stamford Hospital’s emergency room, Tim Corvino, MD continued his profession in the Midwest and Southeast. The son of parents in the medical field, he spent more than a decade at Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, Ohio, before heading to the Chicago area, where he was president of Integrated Acute Care. Most recently, he served as chief operating officer at Covenant Physician Partners in Nashville. As the newly appointed CEO of the Greenwich-based Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery Specialists (ONS), Dr. Corvino is thrilled with his new role—and the opportunity to raise his family in Fairfield County.

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TOYOTA PACKS A LOT OF WONDER INTO ITS NEWLY SHARPENED CAMRY

Camry and wrapped it in svelte and swoopy styling. It is now no disgrace in the driveway.

And it could be in that driveway a long time: 200,000 trouble-free miles out a of Camry is nothing.

The basic four-cylinder is smooth, surprisingly strong and outrageously thrifty. It averages 32 mpg and on long highway cruises expect up to 44 mpg. And this is a normal engine without any kind of hybrid assist. Opt up for the slightly more expensive hybrid edition and you will see mileage in the 50s. Toyota just has this way of taking ferociously advanced

technology and making it seem ho-hum normal.

Toyota now has about 17 versions of Camry to choose from.

The sleeker, optioned-up XSE has a muscular 301-horsepower V6.

An all-wheel-drive version, a first for the Camry, is about to hit the showrooms. And go-faster people who prefer sinister styling and taut handling moves can muscle into the TRD edition.

Even the modest LE can be taken round a spirited turn with confidence. While the stripper model has a full range of safety features, some customers will want

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to move up to better, leather seats, NAV, satellite radio, and all those goodies.

The Camry has surely come a long way in its 37 years of existence.

And as any owner will tell you, it’s going to go a long way, too.

STATS TOYOTA CAMRY LE Drivetrain: 203 hp 2.5-liter 4 (Optional hybrid or V6).

Front-wheel drive.

Base price: $25,000 EPA mileage ratings: 28 city/39 highway

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our reviewer has parked plenty of high-priced rides in his driveway.

Some neighbors have actually wondered what’s going on. The thing is, when manufacturers send us cars for review, the vehicles are often maximized, optioned-out grandees.

The question today, however, is: What can you get in today’s basic stripped-down sedan? A lot, it turns out. The sedan arena is actually a competitive place for manufacturers and some beauties have come our way. Toyota, for instance, took its drab-looking

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places that add an elevated feminine vibe to gowns.

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Clean Lines // There was a definite return to clean lines and fabrics even before Meghan Markle walked down the aisle. Designers are going back to simple designs, but they are using luxurious and interesting fabrics to keep the gowns from being too basic.

Veils // The Plumed Serpent has always been a big fan of veils for our brides. They add romance and drama and can finish off your weddingday look beautifully.

What is fun and new now is that designers are experimenting with color and untraditional design work. One of my favorite veils is handpainted along the border with vines and flowers. Another is embroidered with light pink and blush flowers, adding just a touch of color to the bridal look.

DRESSES

Aisle Style YOUR DREAM DRESS I S W A I T I N G

Alison Luciano

Alison Luciano of THE PLUMED SERPENT knows how to get her brides to say yes to the dress.

Her guidance (and gorgeous selection) are just what you need to navigate the latest in gowns, accessories and big day looks.

240 Post Road East Westport, CT 06880 plumedserpentbridal.com

What bridal trends are you seeing for right now?

This is such an exciting time for bridal gowns and new trends. There are as many different styles and looks as there are women getting married; but I have been noticing a few trends that are popping up throughout the collections of many designers.

What are some of your favorite styles right now?

That is like asking me to pick a favorite child! My favorites are always evolving and changing as I see brides come in to try them on and fall in love. This week my favorites are from two NYC-based designers, Lela Rose and Enaura.

Rose’s gowns are the ultimate for refined preppy with a twist.

They are equally suited for a NYC black tie wedding as well as a garden wedding in the backyard. The shapes and fabrics she chooses are always so creative

Bows // Bows are having a moment again. And what’s not to love about that?

Designers are using them in creative and unexpected places— anywhere from a giant bow at the train to a super modern look where the bow is asymmetrically on the bodice. They are also showing up as delicate details on straps, belts and other unexpected

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and stylish. Enaura is on the other end of the spectrum of style and one of our new designers who is quickly becoming a favorite for me.

They are all hand embroidered and beaded, and the beading is so elegant and quiet. Their gowns don’t sparkle, they twinkle.

industry, pictures solve the problem.

They are so helpful in showing your consultant what you are looking for.

And even if you don’t have an image of the perfect gown, that’s okay, too.

Your pictures also help us see your vision and vibe for your special day.

What should a bride be thinking about before her first dress appointment?

Brides are always nervous before they come in, because they feel that they need to know exactly what it is they want.

But that is absolutely not the case.

Have an open mind. You might think that you know exactly what you want, but sometimes your consultant will throw you a curveball and show you something unexpected.

Bring only a few trusted friends and family with you. If you bring too many guests, your opinion might get lost among the opinions of others.

Pictures are everything. Even though you might not know the terminology of the

How do you know when you’ve found the one?

That’s easy! You know when you don’t want to take it off and you can’t help smiling.

I always tell my brides, choosing your wedding gown is not an external decision; it’s an internal one. It isn’t about how you look in a gown; it’s how you feel in it.

top: Rows of gowns line Luciano's Westport boutique above: Two styles from Enaura prove why the new designer is already a favorite

STORE: MELANI LUST PHOTOGRAPHY; LUCIANO: JOANNA FISHER; ENAURA: COURTESY OF BRAND

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left: A blooming bar created with Design Collaborative right: An infinty altar makes for a modern moment below: An industrial bohemian setting dreamed up with Daylynn Designs

FLOWERS

Benjamin Newbold

What WINSTON FLOWERS is able to create with greenery and blooms is truly extraordinary. We spoke with Benjamin Newbold, creative director of floral and events, a visionary who shares his insight on palette, proportion and the best petals for each season.

382 Greenwich Avenue Greenwich, CT 06830 winstonflowers.com

M A K E A R R A N G E M E N T S T O P L U C K T H E S E FRESH FLORAL IDEAS

What floral trends are you seeing right now?

For the past several years, muted tones have served as the color palette of choice at weddings—think blush tones or classic whites and greens— but this year we’ve seen couples go big with color. People want to be different and want their weddings to express who they are as a couple, so they are opting for bright, bold colors that make a dramatic impact.

Another popular trend is heavy use of greenery and candlelight as opposed to an emphasis on florals.

Traditionally, leafy greenery and foliage have taken a backseat to flowers, but we’re seeing couples reverse that trend by moving flowers into a supporting role. Centerpieces and décor that put greenery front

and center create an earthy, natural atmosphere that is very desirable right now.

We’ve also seen a move toward pieces that are more designed and structural, versus the very flowy and whimsical looks that were common in the past few years.

Couples want to see their décor push boundaries and defy expectations; it’s more flowers as art as opposed to just a simple centerpiece.

Which flowers or trends are always in style?

Seasonal classics will never go out of style.

In winter, anemones are at their peak and make a statement as part of your wedding décor. We love peonies in spring, garden roses in summer, and dahlias in the fall. You can’t ever go wrong with flowers that are blooming naturally during the season, since choosing those ensures that your blooms will be as fresh and lush as possible.

What advice would you give to a couple that doesn’t know where to start with flowers?

Start with the season.

When you consider season first, you’ll be working with flowers at the peak of their beauty. For example, peonies have a brief season and make a stunning addition to wedding décor. When they are at their peak, why not use them?

Then, consider your favorite color. Your wedding should be a reflection of who you are as a person and as a couple, so be sure to choose a palette that you love—even if it’s out of the norm.

The season of your wedding and the color palette will dictate what’s available, and then you can work with an expert to help you choose from the options available.

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café, walking your dog, riding bikes, or even photographing at the proposal location will give the images more meaning for the next generations than just having a pretty backdrop. I also recommend that the couple get a little dressed up and that the bride wear a dress; we always love “twirl factor” in the compositions. This is also a great time for a makeup trial. Have your makeup done just before the shoot, and then make sure to plan a fun night out afterwards.

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CAPTURING THE MOMENTS Y O U ’ L L C H E R I S H F O R E V E R

What advice would you give to a couple ahead of an engagement session shoot?

“Engagement session” is a misleading term, I prefer “lifestyle couples session.”

These images will reflect this time in your lives and have

an authenticity to them that will bring you, your children and grandchildren right back to when you were a young, fun and carefree couple in the early days of your love. The session gives you a chance to experience how I work and direct and helps

you feel comfortable in front of the camera, so that your guard can be down on the wedding day. I always recommend that the couple chooses a location and situation that has meaning, something as simple as cooking together, going to your favorite

What are some of your favorite locations to shoot couples in Fairfield County?

There are so many fantastic locations, but I think that taking advantage of the shoreline is my favorite. The pastel colors in the sky as the sun sets are so soft and beautiful. I like to add a bit of light to my couple so that they are nicely exposed within the setting of the soft sky and the sea. S

Melani Lust

Melani Lust has photographed over 250 weddings since 2007. Although she shoots all over the world, the locations near her Westport home are some of her favorites.

Wherever you’re celebrating, she’s here to help you get camera ready. melanilustphotography.com

top: A couple's sparkling exit from Westport's Birchwood Country Club above left: Newlyweds at Greenwich Country Club above right: A candid moment from a wedding in Madison stamfordmag.com

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LUST: KRISTEN JENSEN; ALL OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS BY MEANI LUST PHTOGRAPHY

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MONEY / BY CAROL LEONETTI DANNHAUSER

INVESTING IN FAMILY WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN SOMEONE YOU LOVE ASKS YOU FOR MONEY?

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opefully, your physical, mental and financial health have survived the turmoil of 2020. Hopefully, you still have a job and food on the table and the ability to pay your bills. If nothing else, the recent ups and downs have reminded you why you have a financial plan in place.

Others, maybe even your loved ones, haven’t been so fortunate.

Perhaps your brother lost his job and can’t pay the mortgage.

Maybe his bonus didn’t happen and the tuition bill is due. Maybe his family has mounting medical costs. Or maybe he shouldn’t have bought that boat after all. (You knew he couldn’t afford it!)

Whatever the case, that’s him on the phone, asking you for money. What do you do?

Many friends and relatives “are in a tough spot, asking for money,” says Andrew Shantz, senior vice-president of The Shantz Mantione Group at UBS private wealth management.

somebody’s lifestyle. You want it to be a helping hand, not be counterincentive.”

The answer comes only with transparent, honest communication. “It’s common to think about finance in terms of dollars and cents, but when it comes down to it, it’s really very emotional.”

If you think you can and should help, what is the best way to proceed: with a gift or a loan?

Each can have tax consequences (see box). Here is where an adviser can help craft creative solutions, particularly for highnet-worth individuals with significant assets and complex estate plans. You can “hand out that money with warm hands rather than cold hands,” says Shantz. Perhaps you can invest in a business, buy out a mortgage, fund a 529 college plan or creatively tap a legacy fund.

If you do opt to lend money, put the details of the arrangement in writing before handing over the money. Be sure to cover how much is owed, the interest rate, repayment term and consequences.

Understand up front that you might not get your money back. Then what happens? Will you modify the terms, take their collateral or bring them to court?

If the consequences are too scary to consider—and you can’t loan the money without resentment if you don’t get repaid—then don’t do it. S

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Gift or Loan?

Uncle Sam needs to know Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service seems like the least of your worries when considering a loved one’s request for help, but don’t overlook the paperwork or you could both be in trouble.

In general, the IRS allows taxpayers to gift up to $15,000 to another person tax-free each year.

If you lend to a loved one, you must charge interest, says the IRS, which sets the minimum interest rate you can accept.

Both parties must sign a promissory note that includes rates, terms and conditions, and you have to file tax forms each year reporting interest paid or received. Consult your tax adviser for specifics.

HEADSHOT BY TOM PICH PHOTOGRAPHY; OTHER PHOTO BY ©ALEXSKOPJE - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Andrew Shantz, SVP

“When family members need financial assistance, it can be an opportunity to help. You can think of it as an investment—in the other person. At the same time, it’s a complex situation.”

Sooner or later many loved ones might need a hand, whether that’s elderly parents with healthcare needs, or siblings going through a divorce, or kids who want to go to college or start a business or buy a house.

The quandary boils down to three questions: Can you help?

Should you help? How should you help?

Assuming that you want to help, determine first how this will affect your financial situation.

“You need to be careful that you’re not imperiling your own financial resources and goals to solve somebody else’s problem,” says Shantz, who works with high-net-worth clients. Examine your assets and the consequences of parting with them. Maintain enough cash in your “liquidity bucket” post-gift to cover from six months to two years of your cost of living without compromising your lifestyle. And be sure to have investments in place to generate 60 to 80 percent of your lifestyle cost down the road.

Should you help? “Are you solving a problem or feeding the beast?” Shantz asks. Is the need a “short-term, finite issue” that will be solved with your help?

“That’s different than subsidizing

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STAMFORD

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GREENWICH

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WEST HARTFORD

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| NAPLES

| BONITA SPRINGS | PALM BEACH GARDENS

TEENS TO WATCH The Future Is Bright for These Stamford Students

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hen you catch a person of a certain age take a deep sigh and shake his or her head while saying, “Teenagers today…,” don’t assume the worst. This person might be impressed. In this story, local students from private and public schools have earned amazing accomplishments. They reveal a range of interests, from soccer and dance to racial bias in the criminal justice system—and, in turn, they are establishing clubs, taking leadership positions and helping the most vulnerable in our community. Of course, they also get top grades in the most demanding academic courses. Truly, that head shaking is admiration, and that sigh is relief that our future is in their capable hands. by diane sembrot stamfordmag.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY: BIYENI BY SHADES SHUTTERS PHOTOGRAPHY; CAMPBELL BY NATASHA MILLER, TASHOGRAPH; SOPHIA BY RICHARD FREEDA; ZACHARY BY DENICE DUTRA-LAVERIS; SYDNEY BY STEVEN VANDERVELDEN | VANDY PHOTOGRAPHY; OTHERS, CONTRIBUTED

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top row: Biyeni Eusebio, Campbell Beaver and Sophia Viscarello middle row: Moli Ma, Joshua Charleston and Salome Alfaro bottom row: Zachary Amendola, Ronald Harvey and Sydney Coffield

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CAMPBELL BEAVER

Academy of Information Technology & Engineering

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ampbell Beaver has an innate curiosity about many subjects.

He dives into history and civics; continually polishes his writing skills; earned Academic Excellence Awards in English, social studies and math; and is in the Spanish National Honor Society.

His interest in many disciplines supports his ability to see issues from different perspectives. Now a senior at the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the school publication AITE Edge and has written about such complex topics as politics and income inequality. His work earned recognition from NHD (National History Day). He’s also written for the Stamford-based newspaper The Advocate and attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference as a National Youth Correspondent to represent Connecticut. As for his extracurriculars, Campbell has interned for Congressman Jim Himes, served as a Youth Services volunteer at the Ferguson Library and interned at the New-York Historical Society, making educational resources for NYC youth. Not surprisingly, he is his school’s Class President.

What do you think defines your generation?

“We aren’t afraid to be ourselves— to break the rules. We’re the generation of change. Contrary to popular belief, we also want to bring people along with us rather than dictate what they should do.”

What do you hope to achieve during your college years?

“I hope to expand my mind and continue my passions for civics, history, writing and LGBTQ+ work. College is also the perfect time to pick up new skills, improve those I already have and venture down new and exciting paths. Wherever I end up, I want to make the best of it.”

Looking past college, where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

“I see myself doing something for the people. Whether that be through law, activism, charity work or anything else in between, I know that I want to help people who need support and positive change in their lives.”

QUICK TAKES If I could have dinner with anyone: “Well, I’m not much of a dinner person, but I would definitely have afternoon tea with Mae West or RuPaul.”

Do you have a favorite subject?

“My favorite subject happens to be history. I knew this subject was important to me when it started to inform my opinions on today’s issues. Knowing your history is crucial in today’s social climate, and understanding how people view the world can help you understand where to start if you want to make change.”

If I could change the world: “I would fight for a time when minority groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, don’t have to fight for what should be basic rights to start with.”

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PHOTO OF CAMPBELL BY NATASHA MILLER, TASHOGRAPH; SYDNEY BY STEVEN VANDERVELDEN | VANDY PHOTOGRAPHY

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You have achieved a lot during high school. Would you share a challenge you’ve had to face?

“My mom’s battle with cancer.

The surgeries. The chemo. My twin brother, sister and I living with neighbors while she recovered.

It was challenging for all of us.

But we’ve grown stronger from it, and my mom is a healthy, beautiful cancer survivor today. I couldn’t be more grateful to have her by my side. We’re besties.”

2 SYDNEY COFFIELD Rye Country Day

H QUICK TAKES Advice to high school freshmen: “Learn how to balance work and play, establish a good group of friends and figure out a schedule that works for you.”

If I could have dinner with anyone: “It’d definitely be with the Obamas.

Who would give up a chance to dine with Barack and Michelle Obama?”

My motto: “Qui Vivra Verra. It roughly translates to: Those who live shall see. I take it as the French equivalent of YOLO.” Superpower I’d love: “The ability to read minds. It would be so helpful to know what people are thinking, and it would be really interesting.”

My generation: “We are definitely very determined and won't cease speaking out against injustices until they are undone.”

eading into her senior year at Rye Country Day School, Stamford’s Sydney Coffield knows her own strength—and she’s developing it more and more each day. Working on an independent study on racial bias in the criminal justice system, she pairs her long-held interest in race with her scholarly prowess. Since a toddler, she has been part of Jack and Jill of America, an organization that was founded by moms back during the Great Depression to support African-American children through social, cultural and educational opportunities. She also serves as service chair for a teen group. Sydney learned something else about herself back in middle school: a love of dance. She’s been dancing since she was only three years old and has since learned many different styles, including hip-hop, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, tap and acro—she’s not too shy to compete as well. Last summer she also shared her talent with her hometown as the dance teacher for Mill River Park Collaborative.

How would you describe yourself?

“I would definitely describe myself as dedicated and hardworking. I know that’s what everyone says, but I honestly feel like it applies to me. If I have a goal I want to achieve, I will do anything to reach that goal, and I will always push myself to be better.”

Do you have a favorite subject?

“French is my favorite subject because of everything that comes with learning the language. Unlike other subjects, when learning a language you also learn a totally different culture, and you get to apply your knowledge of the language and its culture in the real world.”

What’s a challenge that you have had to face?

“Living with Sickle Cell Anemia.

SCA is a blood illness that causes half of my cells to be crescent moon shaped and sticky. Long story short, these sickled cells can stick together, causing pain crises that vary in intensity.

Some of these crises can lead to hospitalization, which is definitely a challenge when catching up on school, dance and other extracurricular activities.”

Nothing seems to hold you back, so what are your college plans?

“I hope to take a pre-law track in college and graduate after majoring in poli-sci and minoring in French. I also hope to explore a vast array of other classes—like what’s stopping me from taking a cooking course or a forensics class?”

Where will you be in a decade?

“I see myself as a civil rights activist and lawyer. I hope to be working for a prestigious law firm, with the future goal of establishing my own law firm. I was inspired by Bryan Stevenson’s story Just Mercy, which details his time working with death-row inmates and people who were taken advantage of by the criminal justice system. This new-found inspiration led me to create an independent study focusing on the racial biases in the criminal justice system within the twentyfirst century with my teacher Mr. Morgan. We discussed stop-andfrisk procedures—focusing on NYC mainly; sentencing rates between whites and their black/latinx counterparts; plea pressure/plea bargaining; and the lasting effects of harsh/wrongful imprisonment.”

What was summer 2020 like?

“This summer I created a summer camp for kids pre-k through fourth called Camp on Wheels. My friend and I both worked at a camp last summer and wanted to continue; however, the camp was canceled thanks to Covid-19. We took this opportunity to create our own. We travel to different people’s houses providing a summer camp in their backyard. We do arts and crafts, water games, dance and play sports. Creating this camp allows me to work with kids while also hanging out with my bestie.”

3 ZACHARY TUSA

Stamford High School

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ife isn’t all fun and games. Try telling that to Stamford High School senior Zach Tusa. He has been a Varsity soccer player since ninth grade and a starter since tenth and was named team captain in his junior year. He was selected to the All FCIAC West Team and received the Fall Student-Athlete Award this past year. Zach handles the pressure of athletic leadership with a level-headedness that he applies to his academics as well—he’s been an Honor Roll student since freshman year, is a member of the Science National Honor Society, and is a Mickey Lione Jr. Fund Scholarship Award finalist. As for service, he received an Outstanding Youth Volunteer Award from the United Way of Western CT and is a member of Stamford High’s Leadership Academy and Future Business Leaders of America. His school also honored him with the P.R.I.D.E. Award for being a positive role model.

Where does your competitive streak come from?

“I absolutely hate to waste time, so I make sure to put as much effort as possible into whatever it is I’m doing, from schoolwork to training for sports to volunteering. There is a clear relationship between my dedication to hard work and my competitiveness, for I am a firm believer of the notion 'what you put in is what you get out.' This love for competition began as I first started to play sports and since then has blossomed into one of my defining character traits. I am also extremely compassionate.

My friends and family mean the world to me, so I feel that it is my duty to always be by their sides and to express how much I care for them.”

Who do you look up to?

“The most prominent role models in my life are my parents. Their constant love and support have shaped me to be the person that I am today. Whether it's coming to my sports games, helping me on a homework question or cooking an amazing meal, my parents always seem to make me a happier and better person.”

What are your college plans?

“It is my goal to continue to progress both academically and personally while I pursue my college career, wherever that may be. Although it is my primary concern to succeed in the classroom, I believe that college is also an opportunity to meet new people, as well as an environment to discover more about myself and what I enjoy doing the most.

Making the most of what college

QUICK TAKES Favorite extracurricular: “Playing for my high school’s soccer team.

It allowed me to establish many new relationships, feel more connected to my school and its spirit, and competitively play a sport that I love.”

If I could have dinner with anyone: “LeBron James.

One of the best basketball players of all time, he gives back to the people, has a charismatic personality and is an extremely exciting basketball player to watch.”

Favorite local place: “The small beach located close to my house. It overlooks the New York City skyline and downtown Stamford, and the sunsets there are incredible.”

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has to offer is very important to me. I would like to grow not only as a student, but also as a person. In addition to this, I want to be able to leave with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary in helping me to prepare for a life beyond college.”

What’s it like to be a teen here?

“Stamford is a great city for teens. There are plenty of beaches, parks, fields and courts for outdoor entertainment and an extensive downtown area.

I’ve made many trips to Donut Delight, Colony Grill and West Beach. The city is large enough so that there is always something new and interesting to do, yet small enough so that it takes only twenty minutes to meet up with friends who live on the other side of town.”

“ We wondered, ‘What could we do to help Above & Beyond the community?’ We wanted to spread kindness in these unkind times.”

- Arjan Kochar, 6th Grade

If you wonder whether young people can really be leaders, look no further than St. Luke’s Middle School students Arjan ‘26 and Nihaal ‘24 Kochar. The brothers wanted to alleviate some of the suffering caused by the Coronavirus crisis. They launched Zouchers.com—a website supporting small, family-run businesses. Watch the Kochars’ interview with Head of School Mark Davis at www.stlukesct.org/slsheroes

On campus and online...

An Exceptional Education.

Join a Welcome Webinar www.stlukesct.org/visit St. Luke’s is a secular (non-religious), college preparatory day school for grades 5-12 and a Best Private High School in CT - niche.com 203.801.4833 | 377 North Wilton Road, New Canaan, CT 06840

4 SALOME ALFARO

Sacred Heart Greenwich

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PHOTO OF SALOME, CONTRIBUTED

o-captain of the Varsity volleyball team, a Eucharistic Minister, a member of Voices (Sacred Heart’s literary multilingual magazine) and Senior Peer Leader to incoming freshman. To be clear, this is one high schooler: Salome Alfaro. She volunteers at Inspirica, Neighbor to Neighbor, and the Carver Center to help children. A first-generation student, she comes to Stamford from Lima, Peru. She and her uncle want to bring education to her community, so they worked with Iglesia Esperanza Church in Peru to raise funds to provide supplies for building a school.

She continues her fundraising efforts and keeps in touch with students and teachers. While doing all of this, she manages a rigorous course load, with AP and Honors classes. She shows skills in world languages, global scholarship and citizenship and a natural and deeply genuine desire to connect with people of various backgrounds and cultures. When not exploring the world, she hopes one day to be a pediatrician in Stamford.

Do you have a favorite subject?

“I have been fascinated with languages for the longest time.

Going to French and Arabic class were always the highlight of my day. Not only did I get to learn new vocabulary and have conversations with my classmates and teachers, but I learned about two completely new and unique cultures. In French, we watched movies, listened to French rap and enjoyed the ​Galette de Rois every January. In Arabic, we had a traditional Moroccan tea ceremony, Skyped with students in Egypt and practiced our calligraphy. Each class never

QUICK TAKES

My motto: “YOLO—You Only Live Once. I try to never live my life with regrets and encourage my friends and family to do the same.”

Tip for succeeding in high school: “Do “Take classes you are genuinely interested in.”

Favorite extracurricular: “100% volleyball! I loved how close our team was—we were only ten girls. We all became amazing friends, which made our team all the much stronger.”

Dream destination: “Bora Bora. I have always dreamed of having my honeymoon there.”

Favorite local place: “I love eating at Reddi Rooster!

Their chicken parm sandwich and chicken in general is literally the best.”

Currently binge watching: “Money Heist. I loved Elite and decided to watch Money Heist since many of the characters are the same. If you love drama, crime, and thriller shows, you’ll love Money Heist!”

felt like school; it was as if I was stepping foot into an entirely different part of the world.”

What was it like going from public to private school?

“Going from a public elementary school in Stamford to a private, all-girls, Catholic, predominantly white school in Greenwich was one of the biggest challenges for me.

Not only was the academic rigor more intense at Sacred Heart, but I felt like I did not fit in this new community at all. I struggled with getting used to putting in double the effort I did in elementary school just to keep up with the other students and finding my place in an environment that was so foreign to me.”

What did you like about Sacred Heart?

“I will forever be grateful for stamfordmag.com

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Sacred Heart and the countless opportunities and experiences I had there. I will miss the familial-like community. With a graduating class of eighty-two girls, we all became sisters.”

Do you think of anyone as your role model?

“My parents. They both left their countries, their families and, essentially, their entire lives behind in South America. They knew nothing about the United States or what challenges would lie ahead for them. Yet, despite all the barriers they faced and thanks to the infinite sacrifices they made, my parents were able to give my brothers and me everything we ever needed. I have always hoped to embody these values of courage, determination, hard work and selflessness that they have shown me.”

Greenwich Country Day School Learning that matters: Nursery - 12th grade Preparing young people to learn, lead, and thrive in a world of rapid change From nursery to grade 12, learning at Greenwich Country Day School is challenging, relevant, and purposeful.

Through inquiry, analysis, public speaking, transdisciplinary experiences, and opportunities to present their work in exhibitions and apply their learning to real-world situations, GCDS students Greenwich Country Day School is the only co-ed, independent Nursery – Grade 12 college preparatory day school in Greenwich, CT graduating ethical, confident learners and leaders with a strong sense of purpose—ready to embrace opportunities and challenges in a world of rapid change. ↗ www.gcds.net ↗ 203-863-5610 ↗ admissions@gcds.net ↗401 Old Church Road (Grades N-8) ↗257 Stanwich Road (Grades 9-12) Greenwich CT 06830 @gcdstigers

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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gain a strong academic foundation and acquire critical skills, habits of mind, and confidence.

GCDS is a joyful environment where \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ curiosity and/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ creativity are valued, \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ resilience is cultivated, and the health \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ and well-being of every student is essential.

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senior at St. Luke’s, Moli Ma, excels in art. She has received awards for her work, including First Place for a painting on exhibit in the Stamford Art Show 2020, the 4th Congressional District Art Competition, and High Honor at the CAEA Youth Art Celebration Exhibition 2019 (as well as the third straight year medaling). She also attended an art intensive at Cooper Union and contributed her impressive artistic chops to design and create scenery for Theater Stagecraft for four mainstage productions. She expressed herself other ways, too. Along with linguistics— speaking Mandarin and advanced French and having received an English Award— she has jumped into cultural and political issues through St. Luke’s organizations.

She co-founded the Feminism Club, served as a member of the Debate Team since ninth grade, contributes to the literary magazine (The Pendulum), co-founded the Asian Affinity Group and serves as a Community Goals for Learning facilitator (taking on racism, politics and other weighty topics).

Further, she presented on climate change in a public policy lab at St. Luke’s and even created sustainable clothing for a fashion show. Creative and determined to make a difference, Moli is destined to take on climate justice or any issue that strikes her passion, undaunted by the scale and scope before her.

What do you love about art?

“I really cherish my little chunk of creative time during the school day, especially since stress has picked up these past few years.

Art class feels like a sanctuary in the middle of very intense academic obligations. It’s a space where I can do what I love most without interruptions.”

What is a difficulty you have overcome?

“The transition when I first moved to America. I was ten. The language part was difficult, of course, but I had to assimilate to a culture so dramatically different than my own in a very short period of time. I kind of got whiplash trying to keep up with fifth graders and their Disney channel references. Honestly, I’m still struggling.”

5 MOLI MA

St. Luke's School

QUICK TAKES People I admire: “Some greatest hits include Kehinde Wiley, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria OcasioCortez and Greta Thunberg.”

Finding a passion: “I started taking art seriously by eighth grade. I’m not sure why but something switched, and I started immersing myself in the process.”

What defines your generation?

“A common recognition that the way our world has functioned so far is flawed, and that it stands to hurt a lot of vulnerable people. It’s so wonderful to see people my age or younger taking charge and actually fighting for our world’s most marginalized—be it people of color, frontline communities affected by climate change, people living below the poverty line, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or so many others previously unheard.”

What role can teens take now?

“Any role that adults can, really.

Maybe even more! We are more connected than ever, and the constant flow of information we get from social media and the internet has played a huge role in us educating ourselves. Teens are powerful, and we are trending towards becoming more and more stamfordmag.com

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influential at important tables where decisions are made.”

Looking ahead, what do you hope for in college?

“College is the time for me to really home in on my craft and my activism, I want to tune out any distractions that aren’t helping me accomplish my goals. I want to explore different types of art and creativity, and I want to take on a more active role in community organizing…wherever that community happens to be. To me, college represents an immense privilege, which is why it’s something I look forward to taking advantage of as much as possible. The fact that I am absolutely immersed in an environment of privilege isn’t lost on me, so I think it is my duty to take what I can from my position and somehow help those who weren’t afforded all these opportunities.”

Congratulations

to the Stamford Public Schools Class of 2020

We wish our graduates well as they head to institutions of higher learning, careers and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Albertus Magnus College American University Baldwin Wallace University Bar-Ilan University (Israel) Baruch College of the CUNY Bellevue College Berklee College of Music Binghamton University Borough of Manhattan Community College of the CUNY Boston College Boston University Bowdoin College Brigham Young University – Provo Bristol Tech Brown University Bryant University California College of the Arts Central Connecticut State University Champlain College Chapman University Clemson University Coastal Carolina University College of Charleston Community College of Philadelphia Connecticut College Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Cornell University Culinary Institute of America Dartmouth College Drexel University Duke University East Tennessee State University Eastern Connecticut State University Eastern Nazarene College Elon University Emerson College Emory University Fairfield University Fashion Institute of Technology Fisher College Flagler College – St Augustine Florida Atlantic University Florida Coastal Prep Florida State University Fordham University Full Sail University

Gateway Community College George Washington University Hartwick College Harvard University High Point University Hofstra University Housatonic Community College Howard University Husson University Indiana University – Bloomington Iona College Ithaca College James Madison University Job Corps Johnson & Wales University Kenyon College King's College Kutztown University Liberty University LIM College Lincoln Technical Institute Lincoln Technical Institute – East Windsor Loyola Marymount University Loyola University Maryland Loyola University New Orleans Lynn University Manchester Community College Manhattanville College Marist College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mercy College Merrimack College Miami Dade College Michigan State University Middlebury College Minnesota State Community and Technical College – Fergus Falls Monroe College – New Rochelle Montclair State University Mount Holyoke College Mount Saint Mary College Muhlenberg College New England Institute of Technology New York Institute of Technology New York School of Interior Design New York University Nichols College North Carolina State University

Northeastern University Northwestern Norwalk Community College Olin College of Engineering Pace University at Pleasantville Pennsylvania College of Technology Pennsylvania State University Plymouth State University Porter and Chester Institute Purdue University Quinnipiac University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rhode Island College Ricci's Academy Rochester Institute of Technology Roger Williams University Russel Sage Sacred Heart University Saint Joseph's University Santa Clara University Sarah Lawrence College Savannah College of Art and Design Seton Hall University Simmons University Skidmore College Southern Connecticut State University St. Francis State College of Florida – Manatee – Sarasota Suffolk University SUNY at Purchase College SUNY College at Cortland SUNY Delhi Syracuse University Texas Tech University The City College of The City University of New York The New School The Ohio State University The University of Alabama The University of Arizona The University of Texas at Austin Trinity College Tufts University Union College United States Air Force United States Army United States Marine Corps

United States Navy Universal Technical Institute University of Buffalo SUNY University of Bridgeport University of California – Santa Barbara University of Central Florida University of Chicago University of Colorado Boulder University of Connecticut University of Connecticut – Stamford University of Dayton University of Delaware University of Denver University of Florida University of Georgia University of Guelph University of Hartford University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign University of Kansas University of Kentucky University of Louisville University of Maine University of Maine at Farmington University of Maryland – College Park University of Massachusetts – Boston University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth University of Massachusetts – Amherst University of Miami University of Michigan University of New Hampshire University of New Haven University of North Carolina at Charlotte University of Notre Dame University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Rhode Island University of Richmond University of Rochester University of San Francisco University of South Carolina Upstate University of South Carolina – Columbia University of South Florida – St. Pete University of Southern Maine University of Valley Forge University of Vermont University of Virginia Utah Valley University Valencia College Villanova University Virginia State University Virginia Tech Wake Forest University Washington and Lee University Wesleyan University West Virginia University Western Connecticut State University Western New England University Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Xavier University Yale University

6 JOSHUA CHARLESTON Westhill

W

hen Joshua Charleston joined the Westhill Engineering Club, he was that much closer to his intended future. From designing and creating models for practical use or for display to learning the basic skills of creating and building models online and then printing them on a 3D printer, he was developing his knowledge of how things work and how to make them even better. He applied his lessons in Robotics Club, where he helped design, build and code robots. A well-rounded student in AP classes, Joshua is a member of the National Honor Society and the Social Studies Honor Society and won a Junior Book Award. He’s been part of the college-prep program AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) since 2013. Moreover he improves life for others: volunteering for Sacred Heart Church, helping freshman acclimate to high school and tutoring students facing the dreaded Algebra 2 Honors final. With energy left to spare, he squeezes in athletics: Lacrosse, Cross-Country, Ultimate Frisbee Club and soccer. Clearly, he’s figured out how to make high school work.

Do you have a favorite subject?

“My favorite subject is math. I think that math could be used for real-word applications if you know what to do with it. It makes me think. It requires being able to understand concepts and apply them to any type of question. It builds on previous concepts and expands into new territory, which for me, makes this course always rich in content. Progressing from solving algebraic equations to

solving complex integrals, limits and derivatives is really cool.”

What are your college goals?

“I hope to achieve a CSE major and maybe minor in another degree.

Technology is the future and the direction the world is going towards. More and more jobs are going to require people who can develop. I also hope to have fun, meet new people and make new friends. College, while a place to specialize in a certain field, is also an opportunity to discover what I enjoy—so many clubs to take part in, majors to choose from, and people to connect with. By the end of college, my horizons will be broader and I will have a lot of great moments to remember.”

Where are you in a decade?

“In ten years, I see myself working in a job that relates to my CSE

QUICK TAKES Key to success: “I try my best to not worry about things too much and focus on remaining calm in most situations.”

Off the clock: “I like to play video games a lot and learn new things.”

Role model “Kobe Bryant.

He would grind every day, being the first guy in the gym and the last one to leave.”

Best thing about Westhill: “Its diversity make interactions more interesting and gives me the opportunity to broaden my perspectives."

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major and enjoying my job. I also see myself making decent living and enjoying life. I don’t want to be in a job that I hate to wake up and spend five to ten hours in every day. I want to do something that I feel excited to do. I hope that I’m financially secure and content.

Growing up, my parents struggled to make money and sometimes that made it difficult to get things.

I don’t have to be a millionaire, but I want make enough where money isn’t really an issue.”

What can teens do now?

“Teens should be more active in politics. We are the future of the country, and we should be proactive now. Getting familiar with how the political system works, staying informed and being open minded about different perspectives are crucial steps to be ready for the future.”

FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE Greenwich Academy is an independent college-preparatory day school for girls in pre-kindergarten through 12.

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Each student is challenged to achieve their personal best, helping them to define success on their own terms.

Come see for yourself.

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Co-ed Independent School Whitby Montessori Children’s House | 18 mos – Kindergarten International Baccalaureate | Grades 1 – 8 969 Lake Avenue, Greenwich CT 203.302.3900 | whitbyschool.org

Open Minds. Big Ideas. Infinite Possibilities.

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BIYENI EUSEBIO Lauralton Hall

O

ne might say Biyeni Eusebio is a good listener, but she’s also a good talker. The Lauralton Hall senior understands five languages: Spanish, English, French and two African dialects. Born in Minnesota, she also lived in Africa sometime before moving to Connecticut. Since coming here, she’s been a member of the Kids Helping Kids organization, for which she started as a student volunteer and then became an ambassador and now a member of the Youth Advisory Council. That puts her in a leadership position to help hundreds of student volunteers collaborate, strategize and implement student-led service projects, such as clothing drives. She also took center stage as Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace and even won a 2019 Halo Award for Best Leading Actress in a Classic Play. From Debate Club, Drama Club, Spanish Club, Student Council, LH News, Student Ambassador and Advanced Vocal Ensemble, the young powerhouse is primed for a future in international relations.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? “​Happy. Most people can define that by money, success, love and so many other things. In ten years, I want to discover my definition of happiness and ensure that the people in my future community have a chance to experience real happiness as well.”

Do you have a role model?

“My mother is my biggest role

model. Not only did she raise three children on her own, but also she taught me strength, perseverance and how to love. I hope to one day be even half the woman she is.”

What defines your generation?

“We are revolutionary. We will scream until our voices cannot be ignored, and fight until the battle is won.”

What’s it like to be a teen here?

“Outside of my busy days focusing on school and extracurriculars, I enjoy spending time in downtown Stamford with my friends.

Whether it’s going to the movies, out for a bite to eat or simply walking around the city, there is always another teen you know enjoying the day out as well.”

Do you have a favorite subject?

“The subject I enjoy the most would be English. I love the ability to learn how people communicated their passions, pain, and other emotions through literature both fictional and real.

There is something so beautiful in the intentions and feelings behind every inconspicuous word.”

When did you know English was important to you? “To tell the truth, English was my worst enemy because I could not understand it, being that my first languages were French and Ewé. Besides a few questions and phrases, I was

QUICK TAKES

Tip for succeeding in high school: “Expect the unexpected.”

Favorite extracurricular: “Theater, because I love performing.”

Superpower I’d love: “Travel through time.”

My motto: “You can (biyeni)thing you want to be.”

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Dream destination: “​Heaven.”

SHADES SHUTTERS PHOTOGRAPHY

7

not formally introduced to English until I started school. My mother would encourage me to read all the books that I could, whether it was as simple as The Ugly Duckling or complex as the Harry Potter series.

This expanded my imagination, improved my communication and started my love for the subject.”

Open minds.

Courageous thinking.

Build an educational foundation of selfdiscovery, creativity, and student-centered learning. We set a better standard for education so King students are unstoppable.

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Students and faculty commute from Fairfield and Westchester counties and New York City.

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FOUNDED

1869 Not for Self, but for Service.

- School motto

COLLEGE MATRICULATION The most popular matriculation choices for RCDS students 2016-2020 (number of students attending in parentheses):

Cornell University (34) University of Pennsylvania (27) Harvard University (19) New York University (17) Vanderbilt University (14) Brown University (13) Duke University (13) Georgetown University (13) University of Michigan (13) Washington Univ. in St. Louis (13) Northwestern University (12) University of Chicago (11)

8

QUICK TAKES Tip for succeeding in high school: “Don’t let big assignments stress you out too much and learn not to procrastinate.”

RONALD HARVEY

Advice to high school freshman: “Go out of your way to talk to new people.”

King School

If I could have dinner with anyone: “Gordon Ramsey.”

R

onald Harvey won’t say it, but at King School (Class of 2022), he gets good grades. Make that, really, really, really good grades. Let’s just say he’s been a King Scholar each semester since sixth grade. He has participated in the Upper School Math Team since middle school and then turned around to tutor fellow students in the Math Help Center. He showed that same team spirit in basketball, until he broke his leg before freshman year. He routed his passion for the game by working on his free throw and shooting skills with Coaches Mike Evans and Dave Hopla. He also got a lot of help from another basketball coach, Craig Austrie, who he had been working out with since a young age. Austrie also helped Ronnie through the injury. By sophomore year, he was playing Varsity.

Do you have a favorite subject?

“I definitely focused on math earlier in my life, but as I got to high school, I really began to go deeper into all my other subjects as well. For example, I’ve gotten a lot more into the humanities. For math, my parents really stressed its importance when I was young because my mom is European, so I put a lot of effort there. In high school though, I enjoy the variety of subjects, and I feel like I don’t get so burned out with an individual one if I spread out my focus.”

How would you describe yourself? “I’m a pretty carefree person for the most part, and even when I have a ton of work, I try not to stress about it too much.

I also enjoy being friends with a lot of different people, and I think this has helped me understand and appreciate a lot of different

My motto: “Don’t make excuses for yourself, but accept faults in others.”

Summer 2020 in five words: “I hope for a vaccine.”

perspectives. And I play a lot of basketball too, which is great because it balances academics and athletics really well for me.”

What’s a challenge you’ve had to face? “The biggest challenge was breaking my femur in the summer before freshman year. I was all pumped up to have a really fun summer, play basketball and even get some school courses under my belt, but it all ended when I broke it on July 1. The injury was devastating because it meant that I was bedridden for basically the entire summer, and I wasn’t back to 100% until nearly two years later. I am really proud of myself, though, for staying strong and finding small ways to continue working on things that mattered to me. I shot a basketball off one leg and crutches two days after being discharged from the hospital, even though the stamfordmag.com

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doctor said I should forget about basketball for a while.”

What role can teens take now?

“Teens need to be bolder. As we near adulthood, we have to free ourselves from the protection that childhood comes with and accept the responsibility of being more adult-like as early as we can. That way, teens will be prepared for any challenges that lie ahead. So we need to be more self-reliant and unafraid to speak our minds, even to adults.”

Where are you in ten years?

“I have no idea. I’m interested in a wide range of subjects, and I don’t feel ready to narrow them down and risk closing any doors.

I could see becoming a lawyer, an engineer or a businessman, but at the same time I could see myself as a professor or a researcher.”

Is your child struggling in school?

We can help.

APPLY NOW www.winstonprep.edu The Winston Preparatory School does not discriminate against applicants and students on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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9

G

ood luck keeping up with Sophia Viscarello. A senior at The Masters School, she not only takes AP courses in Spanish, biology and English, as well as honors classes, she also serves as a co-leader of the Midnight Run Club. It brings food and clothes directly to homeless people in New York City.

She learns their stories. Conscientious and dedicated, she also helps her peers at school. For example, she serves as a tutor at the school’s Writing Center and as a Peer Leader. Elected as one of the two co-chairs (her school’s equivalent of Student Body President), she took the opportunity to give back to her fellow classmates. By understanding people, listening purposefully and communicating effectively, she plans to become a teacher to improve the education system. Until then, she’s helping her mother and sister in their business, Shirley Delicious Confections.

SOPHIA VISCARELLO The Masters School

QUICK TAKES Advice to high school freshmen: “There are going be ridiculous days, bad grades, lost games and every other up and down you can imagine, but try your best to take it in stride.”

Currently binge watching: “​Criminal Minds!

I love crime/mystery TV shows.”

What do you like about your school?

“The thing that I love the most about my school is also the very thing that drew me to it in the first place: the community founded on kindness. The Masters School is so unique and special because I know that I can make mistakes, try new things and fall flat on my face, but I can always be confident that I’m surrounded by people who will pick me back up again, dust me off and continue to support me.”

Anything else? “I’ve been a fencer since I was ten years old. I practiced and competed locally throughout

Favorite local place: “It’s a tie between my local branch of the library and Lakeside Diner, where they have the best homemade donuts.”

elementary and middle school at a fencing club, and then when I entered high school, competed on the Varsity team for all four years.”

How would you describe yourself? “I would describe myself as intuitive, empathetic and thoughtful. Everything I do, I do with care, and I’m really good at putting myself in someone else’s shoes. Sometimes all a person needs is a good listener.”

Do you have a mentor?

“I was taught from a young age that there’s always someone you can learn from. As a result, I’ve collected quite a few mentors. My grandmother, for one. She is one of the strongest and most perceptive people I know, and I always find stamfordmag.com

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myself blown away by her simple wisdom. Also, my middle school librarian, Dr. Frye, who showed me that the world is so much bigger than I knew and that I just need to reach out and explore it. And Ms. Emery, my ninth-grade English teacher, who taught me how to write with bravery, honesty and textual evidence. And, finally, my sophomore year history teacher Mr. Barrios who doubled as my advisor throughout the process of crafting my TEDx talk (youtube. com/watch?v=LJrrI6LYgmk).

He showed me what real unconditional support looks like and helped me find the bravery to tell my story and speak out against the ways perfectionism is perpetuated in our country’s education system.”

RICHARD FREEDA

Outside of academics, what is a favorite school activity? “​Midnight Runs! Planning and executing some Midnight Runs were some of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It was challenging, between finding creative ways to raise money, encouraging people to go through their closets to donate clothes and, all the while, keeping up with a never-ending school schedule, but I truly loved every moment of it. Getting to offer help to the people living on the streets in New York City and just having the opportunity to talk with them and exchange life stories is something I’ll never forget.”

Dream destination: “Alaska. The No. 1 thing on my bucket list to see the Northern Lights.”

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THE MAY 2019 DISAPPEARANCE OF NEW CANAAN MOM JENNIFER DULOS PAINTS A BROAD PICTURE OF WHAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE—THE MOST HIGHLY REPORTED VIOLENT CRIME IN FAIRFIELD COUNTY—LOOKS LIKE RIGHT HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY stamfordmag.com

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CONTRIBUTED

#JUSTICEFORJENNIFER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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I

n the fall of 2011 Jennifer Farber Dulos, a 43-year-old housewife with a masters degree in writing, started a blog about her life. We live in Connecticut, which is where I always wanted to live growing up. I am living my own personal dream for myself. Three boys, two girls, a loving husband whom I adore. It’s all here, right now.

For 20 months Jennifer chronicled her perfect-seeming family: Fotis, her Greek husband, bright and athletic, the owner of a luxury home building business, and the beautiful children they’d had in quick succession: twin boys in 2006, a twin boy and girl in 2008, and another girl in 2010. Was there a worm

in the apple? Not that she mentions; just the mundane dissatisfactions of suburban living. My to-do list grew beyond anything—you should see it now, like some endless sock that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting. Between the chauffeuring and the meal-making and the interminable laundry, Jennifer laments that she has little time to enjoy her children. Or her husband. As the family moves to a brick mansion that Fotis built at 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington, she writes, I do wish for one moment though, in this new house, with Fotis—alone. After the kids have gone to bed, to pop some champagne, even if I don’t drink more than a thimble-full of anything nowadays, to toast to this new structure, to our family, to this fresh and lovely start. To commune with my husband, really.

Jennifer titled her blog, with a hint of premonition, “And Five Makes Seven: A mother of five in Connecticut writes to her children as a way of capturing this moment in time.” In somber retrospect, we see that what Jennifer captured for her children were memories of life when life was good—days of family happiness before she fled the brick mansion for a rented house in New Canaan; before the ugly, drawn-out divorce proceedings; before she went missing and Fotis stood accused of her murder; and before Fotis took his own life, protesting his innocence to the bitter end.

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CONTRIBUTED

The story of Jennifer and Fotis also tells a broader story, one largely hidden from view, about the ways and workings of domestic violence in America. While the Dulos case offers an extraordinary view of the problem given its Shakespeare-in-the-suburbs texture, it appears to fit a depressingly classic pattern: that of the marriage gone bad escalating to emotional terrorism and all-out violence.

We pick up Jennifer’s words in 2017, as she beseeches the court for full custody of the children: I am afraid of my husband. I know that filing for divorce, and filing this motion will enrage him. I know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way.

Two years later, at age 50, she was gone.

Investigators believe Fotis ambushed Jennifer at her New Canaan home on the morning of May 24, 2019 as she returned from dropping the kids off at New Canaan Country School.

They found the garage floor, as well as the Range Rover parked in the middle bay, smeared and spattered with her blood. They found partial bloody shoe prints. And though there was an attempt to clean up the scene, they found a red smudge on the kitchen sink faucet, containing a mixture of Jennifer’s blood and Fotis’s DNA—a fact all the more troubling because Fotis was not permitted inside the large gabled house at 69 Welles Lane.

An hour after the attack and cleanup, the kids’ nanny, Lauren Almeida, arrived at the house to discover a series of small but ominous clues. Jennifer’s Chevy Suburban was gone, but her handbag was still there, sitting on the floor—strange, because Almeida knew Jennifer had a morning appointment in the city. In the pantry someone had looted the supply of paper towels Almeida had stored there the night before—only two rolls of a twelve-pack remained. What kind of spill required ten rolls of paper towels? When Almeida tried in vain to reach Jennifer, “my stomach sank,” she told police. “In the almost seven years that I have worked for Jennifer I never, ever had a hard time reaching her.” And when she learned Jennifer had failed to show for her children’s orthodontist appointments

that afternoon, “my first thought was that Fotis did something.”

Though Fotis enjoyed the presumption of innocence—legally if not popularly— one wonders how he’d have explained away the mountain of evidence gathered against him. Our brave new world of ubiquitous surveillance played a critical role in tracking his movements on the day of Jennifer’s killing. To begin with Fotis borrowed, without permission, a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck belonging to Pawel Gumienny, the project manager of Fotis’s building company, Fore Group Inc. Cameras at rest stops and on school buses show the red Tacoma making its way to New Canaan on the morning of May 24 and returning to Farmington in the afternoon. In between, various cameras spy the Tacoma parked on Lapham Road by Waveny Park, and a man believed to be Fotis, wearing a dark hoodie, riding a vintage ten-speed bicycle up Weed Street in the direction of Welles Lane.

A home security camera, meanwhile, glimpses Jennifer cruising up Welles at 8:05 a.m., toward her imminent death; the same camera shows her Suburban leaving the house at 10:25, presumably with Fotis at the wheel and Jennifer’s body in the back. (That evening the Suburban was discovered abandoned on Lapham Road, with blood inside, near where the Tacoma was parked that morning.) The Tacoma is next seen as it passes the New Canaan rest stop on its way out of town, the camera catching a filigreed shape in the truck bed: the wheel of a bicycle.

Those who would discount this evidence because Fotis is not definitively sighted in New Canaan must consider the following: That night, yet more surveillance cameras catch Fotis, with his girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, tossing garbage bags into receptacles along Albany Avenue in Hartford. When investigators recovered the bags, they found an assortment of items stained with Jennifer’s blood—her Vineyard Vines T-shirt, her bra, a bath towel, a sponge, a mop handle, gloves, paper towels, four zip-ties, and two clear rain ponchos. (State police were unable SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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which itself has that many), plus several more brutal assaults on intimate partners. Even peaceable New Canaan has its pre-Dulos horror stories. In 2010 John Michael Farren, deputy White House counsel in the George W. Bush administration, battered his wife with a flashlight, breaking bones in her cheek and jaw. (He’s serving fifteen years for attempted murder.) Last year in Fairfield, James Taylor killed his ex-wife with a .22 rifle shot to the head. (Like Fotis Dulos, he committed suicide while out on bail.) In 2013, at a mansion on Round Hill Road in Greenwich, Michael DeMaio bludgeoned his wife nearly to death with a baseball bat. (He’s serving eight years.) More diabolical yet is the 2009 case of Adam Dobrzanski, a live-in landscaper on a Greenwich estate who fatally slashed the throat of his 20-year-old daughter in order to spite his wife. Why? She was leaving him.

Murder is only the grimmest metric of our domestic violence problem. Other statistics suggest an epidemic. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States, or 10 million people a year. More than 20,000 phone calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines every day. One in 4 women has been a victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in her lifetime, and 1 in 10 has been raped.

While there’s a growing awareness that men, too, suffer domestic violence, they are overwhelmingly the perpetrators: 85 percent of offenders are male. Nearly half the women murdered in America are murdered by a current or former intimate partner, and for every such killing, nine more are nearly killed. Victims who endure the subtler forms of domestic abuse— mocking, belittling, intimidation, coercion— may go unrecorded in crime statistics, though these abuses can devastate the spirit. In ways large and small, the most dangerous place for a woman is in the home.

Our fair towns do not inoculate us from domestic violence. In Greenwich, domestic violence crimes are the most frequently reported of all violent crimes, and this pattern

THE BIG PICTURE If Fotis murdered Jennifer as charged, then she must be counted among the 1,200 women (and 300 men) killed annually by an intimate partner in these United States. Such cases are not all that rare in Fairfield County. There are roughly two a year (not counting Bridgeport, stamfordmag.com

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CONTRIBUTED

to retrieve everything Fotis dumped along Albany Avenue. But according to the Hartford Courant, a homeless man found a bloodsoaked pillow and a knife in one trash can, and traded the knife to another homeless man for a $5 piece of crack.)

Norman Pattis, Fotis’s defense attorney, professed to be unconcerned by the evidence.

“If this is all the state’s got, we wonder why it bothered,” he said in January, after Fotis was charged with murder. Troconis and Kent Mawhinney, a lawyer and close friend of Fotis Dulos who lives in South Windsor, were also arrested, on charges of conspiring to commit murder. (Last year, separately, Mawhinney was accused of raping his estranged wife and violating a protective order; those cases are still pending.) Mawhinney’s arrest warrant raises the suspicion, based on cell phone records, that he had something to do with a grave-sized hole discovered at the Windsor Rod & Gun Club in East Granby on May 18, 2019, the week before Jennifer went missing. The hole was concealed with barbecue grates and leaves, and contained two unopened bags of lime. Lime is sometimes used in clandestine burials to reduce the odor of decomposition.

Through the summer of 2019, Fotis peddled the odd notion that Jennifer was still alive somewhere—her body was never found.

Norm Pattis went further, suggesting that she’d framed her husband for murder in the manner of the Gillian Flynn novel Gone Girl. (He also advanced the contradictory theory that she might have committed suicide as an act of revenge.) But Dr. James Gill, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner, noted that without immediate medical help, Jennifer could not have survived her grievous wounds.

holds for New Canaan, Darien, Westport, and indeed all of Fairfield County save the urban centers of Bridgeport and Stamford. But these crimes, ranging from threatening to hitting to rape, are also thought to be the most underreported ones. “We only see the tip of the iceberg here at the PD,” says Sgt. Brent Reeves of the Greenwich Police Department’s Special Victims Section. Even so, GPD works 250 to 300 cases a year. What Reeves calls “the services streams” see much more of the iceberg, because a victim can go to them confidentially, without setting the legal wheels in motion. “Once the judicial process gets rolling, it’s a steamroller, it doesn’t stop,” says Reeves. “I think that’s why people are a little afraid of the system.”

The Greenwich YWCA’s Domestic Abuse Services provided counseling and other services to 833 victims last fiscal year, including 242 who simply walked in the door. The Domestic Violence Crisis Center, or DVCC, which covers Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, New Canaan, Darien, Wilton and Weston, served nearly 5,000 victims during the same period. And the Center for Family Justice, covering Fairfield, Bridgeport, Easton, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull, served nearly 4,000. Together, these three entities fielded roughly 10,000 crisis calls, and their safe houses protected nearly 500 people.

A good chunk of the iceberg is seen neither by police nor by advocates. Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us—a widely praised book published last year—tells us the stigma of intimate partner violence is especially keen among the privileged, who set great store by privacy and tact. “And that means they kind of endure this alone, and their children endure it alone.” That brings to mind a story Brent Reeves told us.

Once, he responded to a “DV” at an opulent backcountry home, but found the abused wife wanted nothing to do with him. Reeves asked why she declined help when her situation was obviously so dangerous. She replied, “Cost of doing business.”

“The trouble is, we don’t talk about

“[THE CHILDREN] ARE PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED...

WE ARE ALL TERRIFIED TO DISOBEY MY HUSBAND.” —jennifer dulos, in court filings

this,” Rachel Louise Snyder continues. “We talk openly about other social issues— homelessness, mass incarceration, gender inequality.” What surprised Snyder most during her decade of research was the way domestic violence intersected with those other social problems. “Eighty percent of incarcerated men were child victims or witnesses of domestic violence. For women, that number goes up to 92 percent when you include sexual abuse. It’s the leading cause of homelessness for women in this country. Over half the mass shootings in this country are domestic violence homicides, they’re just not framed that way. You want to address social issues en masse in this country?

Start with domestic violence.”

RED FLAGS Jennifer Farber Dulos would have turned 52 in September; she was raised in Brooklyn Heights, the daughter of the late Hilliard Farber, a Wall Street banker and brokerage house founder, and Gloria Ortenberg Farber, a lifelong educator whose family cofounded Liz Claiborne Inc., the apparel giant. Though the Farbers were wealthy, they weren’t flashy: “They were understated, and tended to donate SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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to educational causes,” says Jennifer’s friend Carrie Luft. “They were not ‘social diary’ kinds of people.”

Jennifer had luxuriant brown hair, high cheekbones and a broad, bright smile. “She was an incredibly sensitive and perceptive person,” says Luft, who met Jennifer in 1990, when both were aspiring writers in New York. “She was soft-spoken. She was gracious and kind.

She was the most conscientious, responsible, thoughtful person I’ve ever known.” A Connecticut friend of Jennifer’s who wishes to go unnamed says, “She was quiet. And very sweet. She could be sassy, but kind of a sweet sassy.” This friend says that she too was a victim of domestic violence, and that she and Jennifer recognized their sad kinship without discussing it openly. “Women who are victims of domestic violence are afraid to speak. We have to be careful, because if we speak up, or attempt to protect our children, we will be harmed in some way.”

Fotis Dulos, 52 when he died in January, was born in Istanbul and raised in Athens. A lifelong waterskiing buff, his Facebook page was replete with flattering photos of himself on the water, like a modern-day Narcissus. He was handsome, certainly, with square, neat features, watchful dark eyes, and a smallish, wellproportioned physique. In TV interviews he sat for after Jennifer went missing, he projected a charisma—“charm” is too warm a word—that might incline one to believe him if the evidence weren’t so damning. “We’re all very worried about Jennifer,” Fotis told WNBC’s Sarah Wallace last July. But his manner is so composed, so nearly detached, as to arouse suspicion. And sure enough he makes a narcissistic stumble: “Somebody has to look at who is the worst affected in this situation,” he says.

“And you’re saying that’s you?” asks Wallace.

“Yes,” Fotis replies.

Both Jennifer and Fotis graduated from Brown University—he in 1989, she in 1990— and both went on to earn masters degrees—he in finance from Columbia Business School, she in dramatic writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. They were friendly

at Brown but traveled in different circles. Fotis married another Brown alumna first, in 2000, but in 2003 he encountered Jennifer by chance at an airport in Aspen. And serendipity cast its spell, she would write. We had a special chemistry together, always… One month after Fotis’s first marriage ended, in July 2004, he wed Jennifer in the living room of her parents’ home. (A large celebration followed at the Metropolitan Club, courtesy of Hilliard Farber.) Jennifer was then nearly 36 and eager to start a family; one can imagine her thinking that Fotis came along not a moment too soon. Jennifer’s friends were cautiously supportive. “It happened very, very fast and that seemed out of character for Jennifer,” says Carrie Luft. “Jennifer’s very measured. She’s not a rash, impulsive person.

She’s pretty much anti-impulsive.”

Fotis was perhaps even more zealous to marry, and here we’re reminded that rushed courtships (in combination with other behaviors) are a classic precursor of domestic abuse. Certainly, there were signs. Fotis had told Jennifer he was divorced when he was merely separated, hinting at the schemer in him. “Jennifer found out he’d lied, and that was concerning, but I think she felt she was too deeply committed,” Luft says. And he had a temper. Even before they married Fotis had a disturbing episode of rage, Jennifer told a friend whom we agreed not to name. “He ranted at her for about ten minutes without allowing her to get a word in edgewise. I can’t even remember what it was, it was so insignificant. Something very small. He just laid into her verbally, cutting down her character: ‘You’re a terrible person!

How dare you do this!’ To me, there was a warning sign in that. That’s usually just the tip of the iceberg, right?”

In Jennifer’s blog Fotis is a sketchy presence, slipping in and out of the scene. He is on the move. And I get his need for speed, movement, business, action. The two do not seem terribly compatible—the contemplative writer and the cocky sportsman. She mentions a video message Fotis has sent from Greece in which he blurts, “I love my Jennie!” Then he makes some bizarre faces and grunts. Not the most romantic, but I suppose it will have to do. At

“[FOTIS] ENJOYED SCARING PEOPLE...

WE MADE A PACT THAT WE WOULD NEVER RIDE IN A CAR WITH THAT MAN AGAIN. ” —carrie luft, friend of jennifer dulos

another point, they go out to see a Quentin Tarantino movie. Ugh. I kept on leaving to get air, sanity, a break from the blood-letting. Fotis was in his own particular brand of heaven. But while spending a night away from the family, she writes, I want to be home, warm with my husband. My sleeping children. The cats and dog. If Jennifer makes one thing clear in her writing, it’s that she cherishes above all else the cozy cocoon of family.

Fotis presents an alternative picture. “She’s up in her writer’s studio. She has absolutely nothing to do with the kids,” he said during the divorce proceedings, a lie calculated to hurt Jennifer, her friends say. After her disappearance Fotis told a Greek magazine, “My marriage has not been so happy since 2010. Jennifer gradually began to take me out of her life and became increasingly distant, a hermit. I tried hard to reach out and understand what was happening, but it never felt better. I’m sorry to say it, but Jennifer was suffering from serious psychological problems…” This too seems dishonest. It was Fotis who was always “on the move,” far from home, and Jennifer who longed for closeness.

What’s more, Fotis traveled not for business, but for pleasure, to waterski in competitions at far-flung resorts. “He was frequently absent,” the longtime friend says. “I think she was often very lonely in the marriage. He’d post photos stamfordmag.com

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of himself with attractive waterskiing women.

But Jennifer was a mature, understanding person, and did not want to be unreasonably suspicious of a husband who was an athlete.”

Jennifer did suffer from moderate depression—not “serious psychological problems”—for which she took prescribed medication. Fotis’s absenteeism was a likely contributor to her depression; so was his volatile demeanor, careening from flattering to dictatorial, and darkening into sheer, abusive anger. Jennifer would say in court papers that his anger extended to the children, whom he drove hard to excel at waterskiing. One day, she said, Fotis smashed a ski against a rock when a son refused to train. “They are physically and emotionally exhausted and have begged me to do something about it,” Jennifer said. “We are all terrified to disobey my husband.”

Carrie Luft and her husband would come out from New York and socialize with the Duloses, but even in that relaxed setting they noticed red flags. “We experienced early on that Fotis drove like an absolute maniac,” Luft says. “He enjoyed scaring people. We were definitely not hothouse orchids, but we made a pact that we would never ride in a car with that man again. It was terrifying—wrong side of the road, crazy, breakneck speeds on winding Connecticut roads. Just unnecessarily show-offy and disturbing.” Carrie took note of Jennifer’s reaction. “She was in the passenger seat and could only laugh softly. Obviously, she was afraid to say anything to him. It spoke volumes that she couldn’t intervene and was embarrassed about it afterward.”

IT’S OVER Fotis built the Fore Group upon Farber largesse.

Between 2004 and April 2016, he borrowed $10 million from Hilliard Farber, and at Fotis’s death he owed Hillard’s estate $2.5 million, a sum he contested by calling a “gift.” “I think Fotis truly had designs on their money from the get-go,” the longtime friend says. “He behaved like a complete parasite.” Despite his dependence on their fortune, Fotis did not always treat the

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Farbers very well. “I think they ended up being held hostage, in a way. If they denied him money, they were afraid he would take it out on Jennifer.”

To this friend’s knowledge, Fotis never physically assaulted Jennifer while they lived together, and Jennifer said as much in court.

(Though nanny Lauren Almeida recounted an episode in which Fotis chased Jennifer through the house and banged forcefully on a bedroom door as Jennifer braced herself against it; he stopped only when he realized that Almeida and one of the children were present.) But domestic violence isn’t only about bruises and breaks. It’s also about degradation and toxic criticism; about threats; about destructive lies and isolation from family and friends; about harassment, coercion and manipulation; about financial and legal abuse. In other words, the “violence” can be soul-deep as well as bone-deep. “Emotional abuse can be far more effective” as a means of control, Rachel Louise Snyder observes, “because what it does is build a wall inside the victim’s own head. As it says in my book, they are ‘passive hostages.’”

We don’t know when Fotis’s infidelity dawned on Jennifer, but she suspected it long before Michelle Troconis came along. “She was very frightened to confront Fotis about it, and did not know quite what she would do if it were affirmed,” says the longtime friend. “She had five children and very much wanted them to grow up in an intact family.” Her suspicion about Michelle ran deeper than prior hunches, perhaps because the Florida brunette who figured so prominently in Fotis’s social media had resettled in Connecticut. Fotis owned up to the affair in March of 2017. “Then, about a month later, Jennifer got confirmation of a whole bunch of other women,” her friend says.

“People who’d been overseas with Fotis had seen him with other women on his arm.”

For Jennifer the dam had crumbled; the marriage was over. Fotis did not dispute her assessment, but he resisted Jennifer’s pleas to have a peaceable break mediated. Instead he proposed—decreed, really—an arrangement that can only be seen as cruel: Michelle and her daughter would move into 4 Jefferson

Crossing, and Jennifer and the kids would live there, too, on weekends and in the summer, all under one roof. Jennifer’s friend says, “I think Fotis thought, because he believes he’s the only person who matters and other people are either there to serve him or get out of the way, ‘So you’re nothing; you don’t matter; you and the children can just live here and I’ll live here with Michelle, and I’ll just keep taking your family’s money.” (Hill Farber died in January 2017; one doubts Fotis would have proposed so brazen a plan if he were still alive.)

“Essentially,” Jennifer said in court papers, “he expects to continue to exhibit complete control over me and the children.”

During these tumultuous months—the spring of 2017—Jennifer began to sense something chilling in Fotis’s scheming. “She was frightened in terms of what would become of her,” says her longtime friend. “He obviously wanted to replace her. Then she found out that he had acquired a gun—even though they, as parents, had said they never wanted to have a firearm in the house. That frightened her even more.”

Jennifer demanded that Fotis get rid of the gun, but he refused, citing a sudden desire for “protection.” (According to a study published in American Journal of Public Health, the presence of a firearm in an abusive relationship boosts the risk of homicide by 500 percent.)

Events came to a head on May 30, 2017.

Fotis handed Jennifer a custody schedule that would give him the children for almost the entire summer. When she balked, “he became enraged with me, that I wasn’t just agreeing to all this,” she testified in family court. She said Fotis then threatened to kidnap the children and abscond to Greece. “I knew in that moment when he made that threat, I knew I had to get us out of there,” Jennifer told the court. Her departure from 4 Jefferson Crossing, on June 19, 2017, was not a move, but an escape.

An abused woman is in greatest peril around the time she tries to leave. “To understand intimate partner violence, we have to understand that it’s about power and it’s about control,” says Meredith Gold, director of abuse services at the Greenwich YWCA. “Any time SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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PRIVATE MATTERS In the dark ages of domestic violence, as recently as the 1980’s, incidents of abuse were deemed “private matters.” The issue was poorly understood. Domestic violence was also, in its peculiar way, embarrassing, since it signified to many people a personal failure—on the part of the abused person. The late feminist writer Andrea Dworkin said of her first, brutally abusive, marriage, “I had been told by everyone I asked for help the many times I tried to escape— strangers and friends—that he would not be hitting me if I didn’t like it or want it.” (Brent Reeves says victim-blaming is still very much with us. “Friends and family can turn on the victim and start to ask what we in the business call the ‘why’ questions: ‘Why did you have to call the police?’ ‘Why can’t you just leave?’”)

The new century brought to light compelling research, and bit by bit that research filtered down to advocacy groups, counselors, police departments and lawmakers. No research was more important than that of Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell. A professor at The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a registered nurse herself, Campbell identified abusive behaviors that, in various combinations, put victims at risk of being killed or badly hurt by an intimate partner, and fashioned them into a list of questions called the Danger Assessment tool. Does he control most or all of your daily activities? Is he morbidly jealous? Does he own a gun? Does he spy on you? Has he ever forced you to have sex? Threatened to kill you? Tried to choke you? (There’s a potent literature around strangulation; choking should be seen as the gravest of warning signs.) Some risk signifiers are less obvious: Is the abuser unemployed? Are there children in the household who are not the abuser’s own? Victims then list incidents of abuse on a calendar, the better to gauge escalation. Often they don’t realize the abuser has escalated until they see it plotted on the calendar in black and white. A certified assessor can then determine a victim’s level of danger.

Which is to say, domestic violence homicides are in some measure predictable. “That blew

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a victim is trying to take back a little bit of control, there’s going to be an escalation. Most of the tragedies we hear about, the headlines about women who’ve been killed, the incident happened very soon after she filed for divorce, or moved out of the house, or filed for a restraining order.”

Each case mentioned earlier fits just this pattern. J. Michael Farren’s wife, Mary, had served him divorce papers two days before he strangled her and pummeled her with a metal flashlight.

James Taylor’s ex-wife, Catherine, had moved off his property on a Friday and was murdered that Sunday. Michael DeMaio’s wife, Diane, had served papers two weeks before he came at her with a baseball bat. Adam Dobrzanski’s wife, Renata, fed up with her husband’s emotional abuse, had filed for divorce two weeks before he killed their daughter. “I tell people all the time, if you’re in an abusive relationship to start with, and now you’re in the divorce process— and you’re living in the same household—that’s the hot zone,” Brent Reeves says. “Something is destined to happen.”

It seems that Jennifer intuited exactly this.

She believed Fotis would never allow her to leave on her own terms—at least once, he’d turned away her moving crew—and so she planned her escape carefully, in secret. “She was scared. She was absolutely scared,” Gina Bunch, co-owner of Daley Moving & Storage, told Fox 61 in Hartford. Jennifer instructed the Daley crew to show up in an unmarked truck and in regular clothes in case Fotis returned early from an out-of-town waterskiing competition. She and Lauren Almeida then piled the kids into her Range Rover and set off for Gloria Farber’s place in Manhattan.

The following day, June 20, Jennifer filed for divorce and for an emergency custody order. In court papers, she describes Fotis as “irrational, unsafe, bullying, threatening and controlling”— an emotional abuser’s constellation of bad behaviors. “I am terrified for my family’s safety, especially since discovering the gun,” she said.

“He is dangerous and ruthless when he believes that he has been wronged.”

On June 21, Fotis was obliged to turn his un-permitted gun over to the Farmington police.

me away,” says Rachel Louise Snyder. “What’s that Tom Cruise movie where he predicts future crimes and stops them? Minority Report. I can’t even tell you how many people referenced that movie when I was working on this book.” Dr. Campbell’s startling findings are now used jointly by police and domestic abuse clinics as the “Lethality Assessment Program.” Five Connecticut towns, Greenwich among them, piloted LAP in 2012; now it’s state-wide, in every municipality. “LAP has really allowed us to work collaboratively with law-enforcement,” says Ann Rodwell-Lawton, director of programming and quality assurance for the Stamford-based DVCC. “Law-enforcement often would leave the scene feeling like they didn’t do enough. Now, with this program, if someone screens at high risk, police are required to connect that victim to an advocate in real-time, before they leave the scene.” The advocate then develops a safety plan with the victim, who could otherwise be imperiled all over again when her abuser makes bail.

Family court is one realm where domestic violence is not given its vital due. Judges shunt aside claims of abuse in the interest of what they see as the primary goal—keeping both divorcing parents in children’s lives.

In a landmark study on domestic abuse and custody battles, Joan S. Meier, a professor of clinical law at George Washington Law School in Washington, D.C., found that judges usually do not “credit” claims of intimate partner violence, and almost never credit claims of child sexual abuse. (This flies in the face of conventional thought, which holds that a mother need only cry abuse to “win.”) The upshot can be alarming: In judges’ desire for a co-parenting outcome, thousands of children each year are delivered into the unsupervised care of an abusive parent, usually the man.

“Unfortunately, the moment someone raises domestic violence in the context of family court, the court views it as a mechanism for that person to try to get a leg-up,” says Karen Jarmoc, who heads the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, or CCADV. “It’s incredibly discouraging.”

Equally discouraging is the fact that abusers

“SHE TOLD PEOPLE SHE WAS SCARED...

THAT’S ALL WE NEED TO KNOW.” —rachel louise snyder, author

excel at being believed. Far from coming off as misfits or psychos, they’re usually solid citizens, articulate and even charming. Think of Rob Porter, the White House Staff Secretary forced to resign in 2018 after both of his ex-wives’ claims of abuse came to light. “The average abusive person, he’s two different people—the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome,” says Suzanne Adam, executive director of DVCC. “They could be a coach, a congressman, a mayor, a salesman.” Mary Lee A. Kiernan, president and chief executive of YWCA Greenwich, adds, “They can be perfectly pleasant and agreeable in the workplace and go home and be a monster.” Meredith Gold, director of domestic abuse services at YWCA Greenwich, asks us to picture the abuser and the abused at a parent-teacher conference.

“The abuser is the one who is very much in control, who has got it together, who’s slick and cool,” she says. “And his wife might be acting flaky or flighty or inconsistent. We know that behavior is a direct result of trauma.”

Judge Thomas Colin denied Jennifer’s bid for emergency custody. While the judge clearly grasped Fotis’s domineering nature, he was unconvinced that the children were at risk of physical or psychological harm. No doubt Jennifer’s admission that Fotis wasn’t a hitter factored in Colin’s ruling. “The court is hopeful that once things settle down and cooler heads prevail, these extremely well educated and accomplished parents will be able to reach an agreement,” he said. Alas, Colin did not credit Jennifer’s unambiguously stated terror. “She SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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told people she was scared,” says Rachel Louise Snyder. “That’s all we need to know.” From a judge’s point of view, though, the Dulos case may have looked like just another high-conflict Connecticut divorce in which the parties bleed each other dry.

Karen Jarmoc stresses that family court judges should be better versed in detecting signs of abuse. “Domestic violence is not, on its face, always easy to view,” she says. “It’s important to understand how the offender uses a series of strategies to manipulate, harass, intimidate and threaten their partner.” Brent Reeves of the Greenwich Police Department illustrates what she means. “I’ve arrested people for sending a smiley face emoji,” he says, referring to a case in which the offender had a “no contact” protective order against him. “That smiley face is a felony—and it’s only an emoji. What I train the officers is, it’s not the action, it’s what the action represents.

That action represents to the victim that the offender can reach out to her at any time, regardless of the police, regardless of the judge, regardless of the process. They don’t care. After years of abuse, think of the fear that that smiley face emoji instills in the victim when she gets it at two o’clock in the morning.”

In Fotis’s case, the intimidation was not so subtle. Days after Jennifer was denied emergency custody, Lauren Almeida found her crying in the driveway of the first of her two New Canaan rental homes, on Chichester Lane. Fotis had just been there, she said; he’d driven up in his S.U.V. and accelerated at Jennifer, who leapt out of the way as the children watched. “You’re insane,” Fotis reportedly told her. “You should be locked away. Why don’t you pop another pill?”

He reportedly added, “I can do whatever I want.

You don’t have a restraining order.”

HE’S COME UNDONE As the divorce case progressed, things started going badly for Fotis. To begin with, the ravenous machinery of divorce—lawyers, psychologists, family therapists, guardians ad litem, custody monitors, forensic auditors— required Fotis to shell out hundreds of

thousands of dollars. Beyond that, however, he had only himself to blame. In flagrant violation of Judge Colin’s order that the children not be exposed to romantic partners, Fotis let them spend time with Michelle and her daughter, who were now ensconced at 4 Jefferson Crossing. Then he coached the children to lie about it to a court-appointed psychologist.

Colin had returned to private practice, so it fell to Judge Donna Heller to throw the book at Fotis.

On March 1, 2018, she suspended his visitation rights and awarded sole physical custody to Jennifer. Heller said Fotis “does not seem to appreciate in any respect the consequences of lying under oath and willfully violating a court order. His facility in testifying falsely to the court suggests that he is equally comfortable in encouraging the children to lie to achieve his desired outcome.” Though the file is publicly available, some of it remains under seal, so we may never know the reason why Heller added: “[T]here is an immediate and present risk of psychological harm to the children if they have unrestricted and unsupervised contact with the defendant, as well as a risk of physical danger.”

Thus we find a man accustomed to total control reduced to helplessness by the court.

Fotis proceeded to act as though he was the persecuted one. “He’s always the victim,” says Jennifer’s longtime friend. “He’s never at fault.

He believes he’s great and has done everything right and everybody is just against him.” Sure enough, Fotis asserted that it was actually Jennifer who would say the disparaging, threatening things. She’s supposed to have told the children, “I can have the Mafia break your dad’s legs with a baseball bat.” But Heller said the evidence suggested that Fotis had invented the charge and pressured the children to repeat it. (Abusers are not always so readily caught out.

In fact, Karen Jarmoc says, family court often constitutes a new arena for domestic abuse— “legal abuse”—accomplished with a storm of motions, “dragging someone back into court again and again.” Fotis, as it happens, out-filed Jennifer by about two to one.)

Finding himself undone in Heller’s courtroom, Fotis slyly endeavored to get her disqualified from the case. At some point in

WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, BUT… Connecticut holds a historic place in the annals of domestic violence

then did the police arrest him.

Tracey survived, and won a $2.3 million judgment against the Torrington Police Department. “From that moment on, Connecticut took domestic violence very seriously,” says Suzanne Adam, executive director of the Stamford-based Domestic Violence Crisis Center.

Thurman’s case gave rise to the Family Violence Prevention and Response Act of 1986, also known as the Thurman Law, which requires police to make an arrest when confronted with domestic violence. Before that, police would ask a victim if she wanted to press charges—and she might well be too afraid to do so. Also, an arrested abuser must now be arraigned the next day, so that a judge can

O

quickly put into place an order

from her estranged husband,

both parties when each pointed

Charles “Buck” Thurman, as

a finger at the other. This had

the Torrington police officer

the effect of re-punishing the

she’d summoned waited in

abused person and dissuading

his car across the street. Buck

her from ever calling the police

slashed Tracey’s cheek with

again—and Connecticut had

a knife, stabbed her in the

the highest “dual arrest” rate

neck, then threw her down

in the country. (Dual arrests

and stabbed her twelve more

also took mothers away from

times. Finally the officer

their children, temporarily but

entered the yard and got Buck

traumatically.) In 2018 the state

to give him the knife. But he

passed its dominant aggressor

made no arrest. He stood by

law, requiring police to “figure

as Buck kicked Tracey in the

out who the bad guy is, and

head and broke her neck. As

only arrest the bad guy,” as Sgt.

paramedics loaded Tracey into

Brent Reeves of Greenwich

the ambulance, Buck made yet

Police Department’s Special

another run at her—and only

Victims Section puts it. The law,

n June 10, 1983, Tracey

stamfordmag.com

68

of protection.

State law continues to evolve.

Thurman

After 1986, domestic violence

received one

arrests rose dramatically, but

last beating

police were obligated to arrest

applauded by police, advocates

domestic violence in all its

notes that Ireland voted to

send them anywhere,” Rachel

and victims alike, went into

shades, and the Connecticut

do so in 2018. Its Domestic

Louise Snyder tells us. “It’s just

effect on January 1, 2019.

Coalition Against Domestic

Violence Act 2018 criminalizes

a complete misread of what the

Violence has proposed

psychological and emotional

psychological underpinnings

violence are often linked, but

legislation to create one. If

abuse, or “coercive control,”

are. You can quote me on that

Connecticut’s family court

judges could confidently

recognizing “that the effect

twice.”)

system is ill-equipped to deal

determine the presence of

of non-violent control in an

with the two issues at once,

abuse, they could make better

intimate relationship can be as

reauthorization every five years.

critics charge. One easy fix:

decisions, says Karen Jarmoc,

harmful to victims as physical

Alas, we’re still waiting for the

make abusers suffer serious

CCADV’s chief executive. The

abuse,” said Charlie Flanagan,

2018 reauthorization—largely

consequences for breaking

Connecticut Judicial Branch

Ireland’s Minister of Justice and

because of certain senators’

restraining and protective

says it has a guidebook

Equality.

objection to a provision barring

orders (for now they don’t,

already, but Jarmoc believes

advocates say, though some

it’s inadequate: “It’s just

altered the complexion of

violence, including stalking, from

criminal defense lawyers

something they’ve developed

domestic violence in the United

possessing firearms. Current

would disagree). A harder

internally, without the expertise

States. The first was O.J.

and former spouses convicted

fix: identifying abuse in

of other disciplines” such as

Simpson’s arrest for the murder

of domestic violence crimes

the context of divorce and

psychologists, family lawyers

of his ex-wife Nicole Brown

already are prohibited from

custody battles. Family court

and researchers, she says.

Simpson and her friend Ron

keeping firearms; this provision

Divorce and domestic

Two national events greatly

VAWA requires Congressional

those convicted of “dating”

judges (nationwide, not just

Meanwhile, state Sen. Alex

Goldman in 1994. As Rachel

would close the so-called

here) usually reject claims of

Kasser, a Greenwich Democrat,

Louise Snyder wrote in her

boyfriend loophole. As the date

domestic violence, and worse,

has proposed the Child

groundbreaking book No Visible

for reauthorization came and

“The victim actually gets

Safety First bill, also known

Bruises, published last year, “Her

went, actress and activist Alyssa

punished for bringing up the

as Jennifer’s Law, in honor of

murder hurled into the forefront

Milano tweeted, “What kind

issue of abuse,” says Meredith

Jennifer Farber Dulos, which

a conversation that advocates

of country allows its Violence

Gold, director of abuse services

would bring big changes to

had been having for years—that

Against Women Act to expire?”

at YWCA Greenwich. For

family court. It would, for

it could happen anywhere, to

example: Where judges usually

instance, make domestic abuse

anyone.”

disbelieve, or at least shrug

a paramount consideration.

The second event was

person at the New Canaan

off, abuse claims, they usually

It would also put cases with

the passage of the Violence

Police Department, offers

believe the abuser’s typical

more than 100 filings—and thus

Against Women Act, or VAWA,

sunnier news. Intimate partner

counter-claim—that the victim

suggestive of “legal abuse”—on

introduced by Sen. Joe Biden

violence cases in his town

is fabricating the charge in an

a special track. And crucially,

in 1990 but only passed in the

dropped from a high of 96 in

attempt to alienate him from

it would broaden the definition

wake of Nicole’s murder in

2005 to 22 in 2018, the latest

his children. So not only is the

of domestic violence in family

1994. VAWA provides funding to

year for which there are stats.

victim granted no protections,

court beyond physical violence,

cities and towns for domestic

Why the remarkable decline?

but she risks her abuser gaining

threatening and stalking to

violence services such as

“A continuous education

some or even majority custody

include emotional abuse,

advocates, shelters, transitional

campaign for umpteen years,”

of the children as the judge

intimidation, isolation and

housing, legal training,

he says, noting the work of

attempts to “correct” the

financial abuse (this might

and abuser intervention

such groups as the Domestic

alienation. According to the

range from denying the victim

programs. (Regarding the

Violence Crisis Center, which

Center for Judicial Excellence,

access to bank accounts to

last: Connecticut courts often

covers New Canaan.

738 U.S. children have been

ruining her credit).

mandate anger management

killed by a divorcing or

Rachel Louise Snyder sums

classes for abusers, though

up our current domestic

president and chief executive

domestic violence is far less

violence picture like this:

of YWCA Greenwich, would like

about anger than about the

“People ask me all the time, ‘Are

expert-produced bench books

to see a similarly broadened

need to exert power and

things getting better or worse?’

to help judges recognize

definition in criminal law: she

control. “They might as well not

And my answer is ‘Yes.’”

separating parent since 2008.

Some states assemble

Mary Lee A. Kiernan,

Officer Michael O’Sullivan, the domestic violence point

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

69

GETTING HELP

Fairfield County has a rich network of services to guide you, whether you need practical advice and counseling, legal help, economic help, immediate shelter, safety planning, or all of the above Domestic violence, often called intimate partner violence or private violence, can be confusing to navigate. You might share good times with your abuser between the bad, and think that leaving is not the answer. You might be afraid to leave. You might think that leaving is impossible: Where would you go? What about the kids?

STAMFORD, NORWALK, WESTPORT, NEW CANAAN, DARIEN, WILTON OR WESTON

GREENWICH YWCA Greenwich Abuse Services 24/7 hotline

Domestic Violence Crisis Center, or DVCC

203-622-0003

888-774-2900

FAIRFIELD, BRIDGEPORT, EASTON, MONROE, STRATFORD AND TRUMBULL

RIDGEFIELD, REDDING, BETHEL, NEWTOWN, DANBURY, OR NEW FAIRFIELD

Center for Family Justice’s domestic abuse hotline

Women’s Center of Greater Danbury’s hotline

203-384-9559

203-731-5206

CTSafeConnect

National Domestic Violence Hotline

888-774-2900

1-800-799-7233

Visit any of these organizations’ websites for more information. (You can also call the police, but know they are obligated to investigate once you do call them.)

ost people call for help after experiencing abuse for a while; a few call after a single M bewildering incident. “I’ve had calls where someone’s had a wonderful relationship for three years, they get married, something happens on the honeymoon, and they’re reaching out for help the next day,” says Suzanne Adam, executive director at DVCC. So what happens when you do call for help? Meredith Gold, YWCA Greenwich’s director of domestic abuse services, says, “You reach our staff directly, and we do an immediate needs assessment and risk assessment, to find out what’s happening right now. Are you safe? Do you need medical? Do you need the police? Once that’s established, we try to understand what’s going on, and why you’re reaching out for help.” The next step might be to meet with a counselor in person. (But bear in mind: While advocates keep your story confidential, they are mandated to report any child or elder abuse that you reveal.)

Advocates understand that your life may well be resistant to easy solutions. “It’s very important to know that we just don’t tell victims to leave,” says Ann Rodwell-Lawton, director of programming and quality assurance for DVCC. “It’s much more complex.”

Indeed, for some who leave, the leaving may be a long, slow process.

Advocates also understand that abusers’ recidivism rates are high. So the best thing you can do is reach out to a domestic abuse service for help (even if you think your situation is not dire). “It’s the single strongest protective factor for intimate partner violence homicide, to be connected to a domestic violence provider,” says Meredith Gold.

“Sadly, we know that only 4 percent of women who have been murdered by a current or former spouse have reached out.”

By March the coronavirus pandemic had brought providers a wave of new problems: victims were trapped at home with their abusers, who sometimes threatened to kick them out if they got sick. But our domestic violence services, like our doctors and nurses, have struggled bravely on, taking care of the many in need.

2018, he called a bluechip New York divorce lawyer to ask about representation, explaining his intense dissatisfaction with his case out in Stamford. The lawyer said that hiring him would entail a $25,000 retainer, and there the matter ended. The lawyer’s name was Norman Heller— husband of Donna. On the basis of that one brief phone conversation, Fotis said, Judge Heller had “a reasonable appearance of impropriety” and should remove herself from the case. (Fotis made the dubious claim that he had no idea the two Hellers were related.) Jennifer’s attorney, the Greenwich-based Reuben Midler, noted that once again Fotis had deployed the “manipulative, coercive and scheming behaviors” he’d used throughout the case.

But Fotis wasn’t done. He told Heller he’d written to the state’s Judicial Selection Commission, accusing her of bias. He offered that perhaps she didn’t like him because he was Greek. “Judge Heller has ruled against me over and over,” he wrote. “I am not an alcoholic; I am not a drug addict; I am not an abuser.

I am a good father and my children adore me.” (Heller did not recuse herself, and the commission took no action.)

In retrospect, it’s Dulos’s words from the March 2018 hearing that stick in the mind. “I really want to see my children,” the frustrated father said. “I’m not Charles Manson.”

QUESTIONS, UNANSWERED If Fotis killed his wife, why did he do it? What spurred him to action? In some ways his prospects had brightened. A psychological evaluation described him as “confident and gregarious,” and Judge Heller relaxed his visitation rights. On May 22, 2019, two days before Jennifer went missing, he picnicked with the children in her back yard in New Canaan (albeit in the presence of an official observer). Nothing went awry. One might expect some visible sign, some hint, of the looming fatality. Then again the court warfare, now 470 filings deep, was dragging on like the nightmarishly ceaseless case at the heart of Bleak House, and Fotis’s financial life was in ruins: was $4 million in debt and Gloria Farber

was suing him for those massive unrepaid loans. Speculation ran that his motive could have been pure, desperate greed: If he had sole custody of his five children, then he’d have access to their collective $10 million in trust funds.

Yet doesn’t it strain the imagination to think of Fotis attacking “his Jennie,” the mother of his children, with such calculated, coldblooded, brutality? Isn’t there a disconnect here? He’d never raised a hand against her.

Jacquelyn Campbell, though, wonders whether this is strictly true. “It would be highly unlikely for an abuser to go from controlling-insultingthreatening (except with a weapon) to murder,” she tells us by email. “The odds are that she was physically abused and didn’t tell anyone (as in forced into sex), and that she was threatened with a weapon, which is considered physical abuse.” The physical abuse seems unlikely, though friends say she was too private a woman to confide any sexual trespasses. But the threat with a weapon? It would signify an extreme mindset not too far from the actual deed. And sure enough, it happened. Fotis’s speeding at Jennifer with his S.U.V. absolutely qualifies, Dr. Campbell says. The weapon need not be anything so overt as a knife or a gun, only potentially lethal, “and a car definitely is.”

Over the next two years, the frustrations of the divorce process, and of the financial freefall, would arguably heighten that violent mentality.

After Jennifer disappeared, Fotis may have imagined he’d removed his afflicting thorn. As Lady Mcbeth tells her husband, “a little water clears us of this deed.” But Fotis made one critical error: On the night of May 24 he took his cell phone to Hartford. Investigators traced its activity to Albany Avenue, which led to the surveillance footage of Fotis’s Ford Raptor creeping down the street, stopping every so often so he could unload a bag containing items smeared with Jennifer’s blood. The footage led to recovery of the bags themselves, and following the chain backward, to the New Canaan surveillance footage. The first arrests, for tampering and hindering prosecution, came only a week after Jennifer went missing. Judge Heller promptly handed down an emergency

“WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL, BECAUSE IF WE SPEAK UP, OR ATTEMPT TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, WE WILL BE HARMED IN SOME WAY.” —friend of jennifer dulos and victim of domestic violence

order forbidding Fotis from contacting his children. The unraveling had begun.

Last January, after rigorous investigation finally produced murder and kidnapping charges, Fotis must have known he’d been cornered. And yet he managed to commit one last act of abuse against Jennifer. Grieving citizens had laid out a memorial for her, consisting of candles and flowers, on a large rock at the foot of Jefferson Crossing. Had Fotis truly been worried about Jennifer, he might have appreciated the little shrine. Instead he dismantled it. “What you did was stupid,” said Judge Gary White, threatening to double his $6 million bond. When Fotis got home from court that day, he found the memorial back in place, bigger and brighter than before.

A week later he was dead, having locked himself in the garage and inhaled a fatal dose of carbon monoxide. In the car beside him lay a suicide note written neatly on lined paper. “If you are reading this I am no more. I refuse to spend even an hour more in jail for something I had NOTHING to do with,” he wrote. Would an innocent man surrender his life in quite this way? Fotis had spent only a droplet of time in jail, but a property foreclosure now called into question the soundness of the bond he’d SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

71

posted. This day, January 28, might well be his last as a free man. (Or so he thought: it turns out that a new bondsman was ready to step in.)

“My attorney can explain what happened with the bags on Albany Avenue,” Fotis continued.

“Everything else is a story fabricated by the law enforcement.”

Norm Pattis made the big reveal at Stamford Superior Court on March 3. On the day Jennifer went missing, a person supposedly known to everyone in the case—but whom Pattis would not name—dumped the bags of bloody clothes on the back porch of 4 Jefferson Crossing. After finding this person standing near “a pile of debris in his yard,” Fotis panicked, loaded the bags into the Raptor, and set off for Hartford.

That’s what Pattis said. It’s a vague and confusing story. Did Fotis say anything to this “third party”? Where did this person go? (He or she must have parked at Fotis’s house in order to unload the bags.) If the person’s goal was to kill Jennifer and frame Fotis, then why deliver the evidence to him? Or did this person mistakenly think he or she was doing Fotis a favor—is that where the Pattis defense was headed?

A final question: Where is Jennifer’s body?

From Pound Ridge to West Hartford, police scoured woods and parks, private lands and vacant houses; they probed lakes, streams, reservoirs, dump sites. Nothing. To think of Jennifer unceremoniously dropped into a pit or a pond only extends this appalling tragedy.

If she’s nowhere, she’s also everywhere, in that heavy-weather way of unresolved stories.

Perhaps we’ll learn more when the Troconis and Mawhinney cases—delayed by the pandemic— come to trial. Meanwhile, we the public have come to know Jennifer in a small way, and thus to see the beauty and intelligence and compassion that her friends describe. Those friends can still hear Jennifer’s voice when they close their eyes. What might she say, after all that has passed? She gave an answer long ago, in a blog post addressed to her children. I embrace you—all. I want to keep you safe and strong and wholly You… All five attentive faces that I watch and keep tabs on each and every day and night. You are the ghosts who continually and S wonderfully haunt me.

It’s Time to Smile!

WE FOUND 215 TOP DENTISTS

O

of new technologies. Respondents were also asked to put aside personal and political bias and use only their knowledge of a peer’s work when evaluating nominees.

Final selections were made after careful examination of credentials and past records with state academies and dental boards.

So, whether you’ve put off your regular cleaning, your child needs braces or you’ve been thinking about whitening, take a look. This list that follows is sure to include a specialist you can count on. »

ENDODONTICS BRIAN AMOROSO 259 Stillson Road, Fairfield 203-333-3636 amorosoendo.com ALBERT N. BONANNO Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com ALEXANDRA BYRNE 5 Eversley Avenue, Suite 102, Norwalk 203-803-1849 JOEL B. CHASEN Advanced Endodontics of Connecticut 95 Armory Road, Suite 2, Stratford 203-377-1331 advancedendo-ct.com

GREENWICHMAG.COM

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ANDREA GENTILE-FIORI Advanced Endodontics of Connecticut 95 Armory Road, Suite 2, Stratford 203-377-1331 advancedendo-ct.com ANJANETTE W. GJERTSEN 10 Berkeley Street, Suite 4, Norwalk 203-899-1636 microendoct.com AGNES HERCEG Advanced Endodontics & Microsurgery of Stamford 44 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Suite 5, Stamford 203-324-9239 stamfordendo.com

EVAN D. CHRISTENSEN Fairfield Shore Endodontics 61 Sherman Street, Suite E, Fairfield 203-255-3636 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 104, Greenwich 203-470-5953 fairfieldrct.com

GERALD H. HYMAN Shore Endodontics Associates 40 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob 203-625-7686 westchesterrootcanal .com

JOSHUA L. DEMBSKY Advanced Endodontics of Connecticut 95 Armory Road, Suite 2, Stratford 203-377-1331 advancedendo-ct.com

PHILIP R. MASCIA The Greater Danbury Center for Endodontics 360 Federal Road, Brookfield 203-775-3344 danburyendo.com

stamfordmag.com 72

DAVID T. FONG The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com

DENNIS L. PIPHER Endodontic Associates of Norwalk 120 East Avenue, Suite 3E, Norwalk (203) 635-6300 rootcanalnorwalk.com ALLEN J. ROSENTHAL Advanced Endodontics & Microsurgery of Stamford 44 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Suite 5, Stamford 203-324-9239 stamfordendo.com IRENE WONG Fairfield Endodontics 999 Summer Street, Suite 301, Stamford 203-325-3636 fairfieldendo.com JOSEPH A. ZERELLA Zerella Endodontics 21 Sherman Court, Fairfield 203-553-9700 zerellaendo.com

GENERAL DENTISTRY DOMINICK P. AGOSTIN 15 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton 203-762-9907 agostindentalcare.com STEVEN ALTMAN Greenwich Dental Group 18 Fieldpoint Road, Greenwich 203-869-3984 greenwichdentalgroup.com

©5SECOND - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

ur smiles say a lot about us. So finding the right dental professional is very important. We’re here to help with our 2020 guide to leading dental practitioners in Fairfield County.

We turned to Top Dentists, a leading dental data research firm, for its inventory of elite practitioners. Its process is simple: Top Dentists surveyors asked area specialists who are members of the American Dental Association to evaluate their peers. The criteria included experience, continuing education, patient care and use

It’s Time to Smile!

W E FO U N D 2 1 5 TOP DENTISTS

JEFFREY W. ANDERSON Anderson Dental 351 Main Avenue, Norwalk 203-286-8668 andersondentalct.com THOMAS ANZALONE Integrity Dental of Greenwich 235 Glenville Road, Greenwich 203-408-2720 integritydentalgreenwich .com JEFFREY A. BABUSHKIN Cosmetic & Preventive Dentistry 888 White Plains Road, Suite 102, Trumbull 203-268-5881 cpdentistry.com CYNTHIA A. BARTOLONE 2150 Black Rock Turnpike, Suite 201, Fairfield 203-333-2060 JANETTE A. BLACK 69 Sherman Street, Fairfield 203-255-1545 drscullyandblack.com M. NICHOLAS BOCCAROSSA Dental Associates of Connecticut 32 Church Hill Road, Suite 201, Newtown 203-426-5891 dentalassociates.us JOSEPH R. BOLDT II 69 Fairfield Road, Greenwich 203-629-3735 FRANK R. BOTTINO Ridgefield Dental Arts 42 Danbury Road, Ridgefield 203-438-2236 paulharbottle.com JAMES T. BOWMAN 70 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Stamford 203-324-9506 jamestbowmandds.com KENNETH N. BRODER 144 Morgan Street, Suite 5, Stamford 203-327-1167 drkenbroder.com THOMAS J. CALNON 153 East Avenue, Suite 23, Norwalk 203-838-9997 ELKE W. CHEUNG Elke Cheung Dentistry 43 North Avenue, Norwalk 203-846-0400 drcheungsmiles.com CRAIG C. CLABAUGH Clabaugh & Trentalancia 1177 Summer Street, 2nd Floor, Stamford

203-327-2540 dentistofstamford.com

CHRISTOPHER C. COGGUILLO Cogguillo Family Dentistry 203 Cherry Street, Milford 203-874-0000 drcogg.info ALEJANDRA G. COSTANTINO The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com CHARLES A. CRAPE Center for Family Dental Health 435 New Haven Avenue, Milford 203-877-4511 VINCENT B. DEFINA Devine Dental 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 202, Greenwich 203-629-9009 dentistofgreenwich.com SANTO A. DELALLO 122 West Norwalk Road, Norwalk 203-855-8877 CARL F. DELUCIA 3100 Main Street, Bridgeport 203-374-0082 BARBARA J. DEVINE Devine Dental 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 202, Greenwich 203-629-9009 dentistofgreenwich.com MARK S. DEWAELE 208 South Avenue, New Canaan 203-966-5944 newcanaanctdental.com BRIAN S. DUCHAN Westport Dental Associates 329 Riverside Avenue, Westport 203-227-3709 westportdental.com YOLANI P. EDIRISINGHE Family Dentistry of Milford 53 Cherry Street, Milford 203-878-1766 familydentistrymilford .com MARK L. EINZIG Ridgefield Cosmetic & Family Dentistry 90 Grove Street, Suite 208, Ridgefield 203-438-0120 markeinzigdds.com ELIOT S. ESSENFELD Vanlang & Essenfeld 53 Old Kings Highway North, Darien 203-655-8887 dariendentists.com

WILLIAM J. FESSLER 116 East Avenue, Norwalk 203-838-3939 wfesslerdds.com

DANIELLE D. GOODWIN Goodwin Dental 31 River Road, Suite 300, Cos Cob 203-869-2552 dgoodwindds.com

ANTHONY T. FESTA New Canaan Dental Care 116 South Avenue, New Canaan 203-966-9696 newcanaandentalcare.com

KRISTY L. GRETZULA Hawley Lane Dental 475 Hawley Lane, Suite 9, Stratford 203-377-9300 hawleylanedental.com

SCOTT R. FISHER 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 206, Greenwich 203-869-2929

PAUL D. HARBOTTLE New Canaan Dentistry 162 East Avenue, New Canaan 203-972-0588 paulharbottle.com

CAMILLO L. FONTANA Fontana Family Dental Care 1100 Kings Highway East, Suite 3-A, Fairfield 203-333-4700 fontanafamilydentalcare .com

MATTHEW HERBSTMAN Dental Associates of Connecticut 36 Padanaram Road, Danbury 203-748-5717 dentalassociates.us

JOSEPHINE A. FRANZESE Ridgefield Perfect Smile Center 162 Danbury Road, Ridgefield 203-493-0556 danajonesdds.com

STEPHANIE J. HOTCHKISS Greenwich Dental Group 18 Fieldpoint Road, Greenwich 203-869-3984 dentalinformation.com

ADAM J. FREEMAN Westport Dental Associates 329 Riverside Avenue, Westport 203-227-3709 westportdental.com

MANDEEP HURA Community Health Center of Stamford 141 Franklin Street, Stamford 203-969-0802 chc1.com/Locations/ Stamford

ROBERT GALELLA Dental Associates of Connecticut 36 Padanaram Road, Danbury 203-748-5717 dentalassociates.us MARILYN GENI Imperial Dental Associates 15 Imperial Avenue, Westport 203-227-2520 imperialdentalassociates .com MICHAEL D. GENTILE 49 Lake Avenue, Suite 203, Greenwich 203-869-2090

MATTHEW J. IWINSKI 45 Pine Street, Suite 1-A, New Canaan 203-966-5606 matthewjiwinskidds.com DANA C. JONES Ridgefield Perfect Smile Center 162 Danbury Road, Ridgefield 203-493-0556 danajonesdds.com THOMAS J. KAHL Greater Danbury Community Health Center 70 Main Street, Danbury 203-743-0100 danburyhospital.org/finda-doctor/thomas-kahl

TAHA GHOMI Dental Associates of Connecticut 36 Padanaram Road, Danbury 203-748-5717 dentalassociates.us

BOZENA J. KIERSKI 44 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Suite 9, Stamford 203-348-5612 bkierskidds.com

PAMELA A. GIBSON Southport Family Dental 10 John Street, Southport 203-255-5142 southportfamilydental .com

MASHA KOGAN The Dental Center of Westport 175 Post Road, West, Westport 203-227-8700 dentalcenterwestport .com

ALAN GOLDBERG Goldberg & Marcus Dental Associates 1825 Barnum Avenue, Suite 303, Stratford 203-375-6090 goldbergmarcusdental .com

ALISON KUDISH Trumbull Dental Arts

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160 Hawley Lane, Suite 101, Trumbull 203-377-0638 trumbulldentist.com

MARYANN E. LEHMANN 5 Brook Street, Suite 1-B, Darien 203-655-0021 maldds.com MICHAEL LEVIN 1171 East Putnam Avenue, Suite 1-D, Riverside 203-637-5252 SUSAN K. LEVINE 52 Beach Road, Suite 203, Fairfield 203-259-7073 drsusanlevine.com ANDREW M. MARCUS Goldberg & Marcus Dental Associates 1825 Barnum Avenue, Suite 303, Stratford 203-375-6090 goldbergmarcusdental .com JACKQUELINE J. MCLEAN Mclean Smiles 23 Hoyt Street, Suite 2, Stamford 203-364-5081 (new patients); 203-327-6717 mcleansmiles.com WILLIAM J. MCPADDEN, JR. 135 Anton Street, Bridgeport 203-371-6586 JOSEPH D. MICELI Middlesex Dental Group 106 Noroton Avenue, Suite 5, Darien 203-529-4682 dentist-darien.com WAYNE A. MICHALKA Commerce Park Cosmetic Dentistry 4699 Main Street, Suite 200, Bridgeport 203-372-3726 commerceparkcosmetic dds.com DONALD W. MILLER Cosmetic & Reconstructive Dentistry 1275 Post Road, Suite 201, Fairfield 203-255-6878 fairfieldcosmeticdentistry .com ANDREW L. MOGELOF Mogelof Dental Group 2499 Main Street, Suite 5, Stratford 203-378-5588 drmogelof.com SCOTT A. MOGELOF Mogelof Dental Group 2499 Main Street, Suite 5, Stratford 203-378-5588 drmogelof.com

CARLA M. MONTEIRO Goldberg & Marcus Dental Associates 1825 Barnum Avenue, Suite 303, Stratford 203-375-6090 goldbergmarcusdental.com MICHAEL A. NOCERINO 1809 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield 203-335-4413 michaelnocerinodds.com THOMAS M. OHLSON Comprehensive Dental Group 999 Summer Street, Suite 400, Stamford 203-359-3296 pogosianohlsondental.com KARL W. OLSON Olson Family Dental 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 3-B, Norwalk 203-663-3316 olsonfamilydental.com COLIN M. PECH Darien Center for Dentistry 36 Old Kings Highway South, Suite 105, Darien 203-655-0667 dariendds.com DAVID A. PEREIRA Dental Arts of Darien 800 Post Road, Suite 301, Darien 203-656-8079 dentalartsofdarien.com MICHAEL J. PIZZO Ridgefield Cosmetic and General Dentistry 65 Danbury Road, Ridgefield 203-438-8866 ridgefielddentistry.com DONALD A. POGODA 8 West End Avenue, Old Greenwich 203-637-0554 DUSTIN F. RABINE Rabine Family Dentistry 865 River Road, Shelton 203-941-4912 (new patients); 203-375-1932 rabinefamilydentistry.com PETER J. RATHMAN 125 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Suite 204, Stamford 203-327-1470 peterrathmandmd.com PRASANNA L. RAVURI Merritt Dental Care 999 Summer Street, Suite 306, Stamford 203-356-9990 stamfordfamilydentist.com STEVEN M. REGENSTEIN Esthetic Dental Group of Westport 327 Riverside Avenue, 2nd Floor, Westport 203-227-3421 edgw.us

It’s Time to Smile!

W E FO U N D 2 1 5 T O P D E N T I S TS

MICHAEL J. REYNOLDS 2600 Post Road, Suite L-1, Southport 203-256-8900 michaelreynoldsdds.com

MICHAEL B. STEIN The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com

MARK S. ROISMAN 225 Main Street, Suite 304, Westport 203-227-6338 mywestportdentist.com

JOSEPH P. SUAREZ 153 East Avenue, Suite 23, Norwalk 203-838-9997 josephsuarezdds.com

JOSEPH M. ROMANELLI 1411 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield 203-384-6389

MARK R. SUTTON 391 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob 203-869-2066 greenwichdentistry.com

FRANK J. ROMANO 2240 Madison Avenue, Bridgeport 203-372-0881 romanodental.com JON C. ROSENBLITT 251 Long Ridge Road, Stamford 203-348-1632 rosenblittdentistry.com DAVID ROSH 1450 Washington Boulevard, Suite 105, Stamford 203-359-2244 roshdental.com

JEFFREY A. TAMUCCI 5 Eversley Avenue, Norwalk 203-853-0669 tamuccidds.com KENNETH B. TEMPLE 40 East Putman Avenue, Cos Cob 203-622-4243 DAVID J. THIBAULT 15 Commerce Road, Suite 2, Stamford 203-965-7795 davidthibaultdmd.com

ZACHARY M. ROTH Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford 203-884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com

CHRISTINE L. TIERNEY Beautiful Dentistry of Greenwich 40 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob 203-869-5400 beautifuldentistryof greenwich.com

KEITH L. RUDOLPH 140 Sherman Street, Suite 3-A, Fairfield 203-254-9533 drkeithrudolph.com

ADRIANA TORENA Allure Dental Group 4699 Main Street, Suite 101, Bridgeport 203-368-9016 dentistryfairfield.com

JOHN J. SCHINTO III Schinto Dental 2001 West Main Street, Suite 110, Stamford 203-978-1184 schintodental.com

ROBERT N. TRAMPOSCH Greenwich Smiles 25 Valley Drive, Greenwich 203-862-9000 greenwichsmiles.com

CAROLINE A. SHENKER Perfect Smiles of Fairfield 60 Katona Drive, Suite 20, Fairfield 203-366-7655 perfectsmilesoffairfield .com

DOUGLAS M. TREPP The Town Practice 500 West Putnam Avenue, Suite 4, Greenwich 203-869-9252 treppandmiller.com

FRANCIS SHIN 25 Valley Drive, 2nd Floor, Greenwich 203-625-0301 valleygreenwichdental .com

GEORGE TSANGAROULIS Greenwich Cosmetic & Family Dentistry 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite G2, Greenwich 203-869-4755 greenwichfamilydental .com

JERRY M. SIMON Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford 203-884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com DAVID R. STEBBINS 148 East Avenue, Suite 3-J, Norwalk 203-866-0415 davidstebbinsdmd.com

QUYNHCHI N. VANLANG Vanlang & Essenfeld Family Dentistry 53 Old Kings Highway North, Darien 203-655-8887 dariendentists.com

JEFFREY S. WARREN Family and Cosmetic Dentistry 1735 Post Road, Suite 8, Fairfield 203-259-1460 drjeffreywarren.com

ANTHONY J. CAMILLO Associated Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons 107 Newtown Road, Suite 1A, Danbury 203-797-0012 aomspc.com

ROBERT S. WARREN Brooklawn Dental Associates 990 Brooklawn Avenue, Bridgeport 203-335-6471 brooklawndental.com

DONALD J. CASE Stamford Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical Arts 27 Bridge Street, Stamford 203-325-2661 stamfordoms.com PAUL M. CIUCI Milford & Derby Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery One Golden Hill Street, Milford 203-874-1664 ctomfs.com

STEVE WECHSLER The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com ERNEST J. WHITTLE III 284 Sound Beach Avenue, Old Greenwich 203-637-4660

CHRISTOPHER J. CUOMO Northeast Implant & Oral Surgery 27 Hospital Avenue, Suite 306, Danbury 203-797-0008 neimplantandoralsurgery .com

DAVID J. WOHL The Center for Aesthetic and Comprehensive Dentistry 111 Beach Road, Fairfield 203-255-4001 drdavidwohl.com

ROOLS L. DESSIEUX Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com

MASIS YETERIAN, JR. My Creative Dentist 211 East Putnam Avenue, Suite 2-6, Cos Cob 203-529-4217 (new patients), 203-869-2884 dentist-greenwich.com

NAUSHAD R. EDIBAM Stamford Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical Arts 27 Bridge Street, Stamford 203-325-2661 stamfordoms.com

DAVID A. ZADIK Greenwich Dental Group 18 Fieldpoint Road, Greenwich 203-869-3984 greenwichdentalgroup .com

SALVATORE J. FLORIO The Facial Surgery Center 115 Technology Drive, Suite B-101, Trumbull 203-261-7800 drflorio.com

MARK L. ZAMAT 1200 Linden Avenue, Stratford 203-378-0182

ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

CHRISTINE L. HAMILTON-HALL Aesthetic & Maxillofacial Surgery Center of Darien 777 Post Road, Suite 100, Darien 203-656-4466

ABED ALKHATIB Oral Surgery Associates 1305 Post Road, Suite 201, Fairfield 203-259-2665 oralsurgeryassociatesct .com

VASILIKI KARLIS Maxillofacial Surgery of Greenwich 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 205, Greenwich 203-717-1222 maxfacsgreenwich.com

MICHELE S. BERGEN Infinity Oral Surgery 49 Lake Avenue, Suite LL4, Greenwich 203-661-4231 infinityoralsurgery.com

CHRISTOPHER J. LANE The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com KEVIN S. MCLAUGHLIN Norwalk Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery & Dental Implants 148 East Avenue, Suite 2F, Norwalk 203-866-0061 norwalkoms.com

TODD E. BLOOM Fairfield Oral Surgery 760 Kings Highway West, Building B, Southport 203-259-2227 fairfieldoralsurgery.com

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PHILIP F. PACELLI III New Canaan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 166 Cherry Street, Suite A, New Canaan 203-972-1581 newcanaanoralsurgery .com ALAN R. RISSOLO Oral Surgeons Associates 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 4B, Norwalk 203-853-0500 norwalkdentalimplant .com MICHAEL F. TROFA Norwalk Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery & Dental Implants 148 East Avenue, Suite 2-F, Norwalk 203-866-0061 norwalkoms.com HOWARD B. TWERSKY Oral Surgery Associates 4747 Main Street, Bridgeport 203-371-5595 oralsurgeryassociatesct .com JOSEPH F. WALLACE III Greenwich Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 23 Maple Avenue, Greenwich 203-661-5858 greenwichoralsurgery .com THOMAS B. WILSON Greenwich Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 23 Maple Avenue, Greenwich 203-661-5858 greenwichoralsurgery .com ROBERT M. YUDELL Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Center of Stamford 90 Morgan Street, Sutie 207, Stamford 203-327-9966 oralsurgeryofstamford .com BRETT ZUCKMAN Greenwich Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 23 Maple Avenue, Greenwich 203-661-5858 greenwichoralsurgery .com

ORTHODONTICS FIGEN A. BAYDUR Baydur Orthodontics 1817 Black Rock Turnpike, Suite 104, Fairfield 203-333-0050 drbaydur.com PATRICIA A. BENDICK Fairfield Orthodontic Associates

111 Beach Road, Fairfield fairfieldorthodontic associates.com

JOHN S. BIBKO JB Orthodontics 346 Main Avenue, Suite D, Norwalk 203-866-7806 jborthodonticsct.com ORESTA L. BILOUS Bilous Orthodontics 52 Beach Road, Suite 206, Fairfield 203-255-2677 bilous-ortho.com CASS D. BURRELL First Impressions Orthodontics 1476 Post Road, Fairfield 203-307-0996 fairfieldorthodontist.com STEPHEN N. CAGLIOSTRO Westwalk Orthodontic Group 1460 Post Road East, Suite 9, Westport 203-226-9579 westwalkortho.com TIFFANY CHRISTENSEN Greenwich Braces 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 204, Greenwich 203-869-2044 greenwichbraces.com DAVID H. COWIN Danbury Hospital 52 North Street, Danbury 203-792-7722 ALIKA L. CREW The Stein Dental Group 1081 Hope Street, Stamford 203-329-8444 thesteindentalgroup.com JEFFREY S. DRAYER Stamford Orthodontics 999 Summer Street, Suite 201, Stamford 203-325-3331 stamfordortho.com EMILY C. DRIESMAN Embrace Orthodontics 24 Imperial Avenue, Westport 203-227-6061 westportortho.com AUSTIN W. FEENEY 45 Pine Street, New Canaan 203-966-3042 feeneysmiles.com PETER FEIBISH Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com MARK P. FEINBERG 4 Corporate Drive, »

It’s Time to Smile!

W E FO U N D 2 1 5 TOP DENTISTS

ROBERT J. GALLOIS Gallois Orthodontics 125 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Stamford 203-348-7571 galliosortho.com STEVE GIANNOUTSOS Georgetown Orthodontics 73 Redding Road, Georgetown 203-544-9338 georgetownorthodontics .com ROBERT B. GOLDMAN Goldman Orthodontic Arts 1200 High Ridge Road, Suite 5, Stamford 203-329-2712 goldmanorthodontics.com NIKA GRIGAITIS Blue Wave Orthodontics 777 Boston Post Road, Suite 300, Darien 203-202-7610 bluewaveorthodontics.com EROL GUND Dental Associates of Connecticut 36 Padanaram Road, Danbury 203-748-5717 dentalassociates.us SCOTT L. KESSELMAN Riverside Orthodontics 1171 East Putnam Avenue, Building 2, Riverside 203-698-0045 riversideortho.net BLAINE J. LANGBERG 17 Danbury Road, Suite 6, Ridgefield 203-431-4466 braceyourselves.com FERNANDA D. MARCHI Fairfield County Orthodontics 1275 Post Road, Suite 211, Fairfield 203-292-6644 bracesfairfield.com GREGORY A. MCKENNA McKenna Orthodontics 131 Deer Hill Avenue, Danbury 203-790-9155 mckennaortho.com GARY L. OPIN Opin Wide! Orthodontics 266 South Broad Street, Milford

203-877-3231 opinorthodontics.com

203-227-3709 westportdental.com

M. BINA PARK 42 Sherwood Place, Greenwich 203-900-1111 drbinapark.com

ALEXI M. DAMASCUS Ridgefield Pediatric Dentistry 22 Prospect Street, Ridgefield 203-403-3009 ridgefieldpd.com

ALLAN S. PHILLIPS Braces CT 8 Prospect Street, Ridgefield 203-438-6922 bracesct.com MARY E. RITTER Commerce Park Childrens Dentistry & Orthodontics 4702 Main Street, Bridgeport 203-371-8282 commerceparkdental.com ROSEMARY RYAN Greenwich Braces 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 204, Greenwich 203-869-2044 greenwichbraces.com GREGORY W. SANFORD Sanford Orthodontics 44 Old Ridgefield Road, Suite 218, Wilton 203-762-2322 sanfordorthodontics.com UTTAMPAL SINGH Dental Care Orthodontics 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 580-6330 dentalcareorthodontics .com MONICA A. TEREDESAI Smile Art Orthodontics 126 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton 203-210-7375 smileartortho.com

JENNIFER D. EPSTEIN Kids First Pediatric Dentistry 1478 Post Road, Fairfield 203-307-1550 kidsfirstdentistry.com EMILY GABELERMANHEIMER Greenwich Pediatric Dental Group 4 Dearfield Drive, Greenwich 203-422-5437 greenwichkidsdentist .com

DURGESH A. KUDCHADKAR Dental Care Kids 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 487-5705 dentalcarekids.com

SIMON ZMUIDZINAS Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com

MEENAKSHI MADHU Sensitive Care Dental 55 Old Gate Lane, Milford 203-951-5540 sensitivecare.net

PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY

GREGORY S. MOKOTOFF Kids First Pediatric Dentistry 1478 Post Road, Fairfield 203-307-1550 kidsfirstdentistry.com

HANNAH AHN Westport Dental Associates 329 Riverside Avenue, Westport

LAWRENCE A. DELIBERO Fairfield County Periodontics & Dental Implants 115 Technology Drive, Suite C-304, Trumbull (203) 459-1210 drdelibero.com

PERRY A. WASSERLAUF Fairfield Periodontics 71 Beach Road, Fairfield 203-255-7771 fairfieldperiodontics.com

GABRIELLE SYKOFF Dental Care Kids 1500 Summer Street, Stamford 203-487-5705 dentalcarekids.com

DAVID S. GOTTLIEB Periodontology Associates of Norwalk 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 1-C, Norwalk 203-853-1120

JOHN CORINO Norwalk Dental Arts 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 2C, Norwalk 203-854-9565 norwalkdentalarts.com

HIROSHI TSUYUKI Dentistry for Children 149 East Avenue, Suite 21, Norwalk 203-838-4191 dentistryforchildrenct .com

TERENCE S. JACKSON Periodontics & Implant Dentistry Center 47 Oak Street, Suite 6, Stamford 203-252-2252 stamfordperio.com

STACY ZARAKIOTIS Greenwich Pediatric Dental Group 4 Dearfield Drive, Greenwich 203-422-5437 greenwichkidsdentist .com

DAVID M. KNAUS 324 Elm Street, Suite 101-B, Monroe 203-261-1363

GARRICK F. WONG 453 East Putnam Avenue, Cos Cob 203-625-9888 drgarrickfwong.com

ANDREW SPADINGER Commerce Park Childrens Dentistry & Orthodontics 4702 Main Street, Bridgeport 203-371-8282 commerceparkdental .com

LILIAN R. VIERA Childrens Dental Care of Norwalk 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 4C, Norwalk 203-866-5020 childrensdentalcare ofnorwalkllc.com

JOHN IWASAKI Dental Associates of Connecticut 19 Padanaram Road, Danbury (203) 748-5717 dentalassociates.us

GORDON K. LEE Westport Pediatric Dentistry 305 Post Road East, Westport 203-226-5500 zerocavityzone.com

DISCLAIMER

Suite 195, Shelton 203-513-2014 feinsmiles.com

PERIODONTICS RICHARD F. AMATO Advanced Periodontics & Dental Implants 324 Elm Street, Suite 103A, Monroe 203-712-0917 (new patients), 203-268-2000 connecticutperiodontist .com ROBERT CHUNG Periodontal Associates 4 Dearfield Drive, Suite 201, Greenwich 203-661-3733 ctperio.com BRUCE K. DAVIDSON 273 Post Road West, Suite 1, Westport 203-226-7788 davidsonperio.com

SELMA KAPLAN Periodontics & Dental Implants 10 Mott Avenue, Suite 4A, Norwalk 203-635-4250 norwalkperio.com RUI “RAY” MA 1047 Old Post Road, Fairfield 203-254-2006 sonickdmd.com JENNY MATHEWS 15 Roseville Road, Westport 203-227-8990 jennymathews-perio.com BRETE D. MORAN 67 Cherry Street, Milford 203-876-0304 drbretemoran.com RANDALL H. NEICHIN Dental Care of Stamford 1500 Summer Street, Stamford (203) 884-0277 dentalcarestamford.com MICHAEL SONICK Fairfield County Implants and Periodontics 1047 Old Post Road, Fairfield 203-254-2006 sonickdmd.com E. J. TRAYNOR Traynor Periodontics & Implants 15 Valley Drive, Suite 302, Greenwich 203-661-5885 tpigreenwich.com

PROSTHODONTICS

JACK DEGRADO Stamford Dental Group 47 Oak Street, Suite 220, Stamford 203-883-6074 stamforddentalgroup.com MARIE E. FALCONE Dental Specialists of Darien 24 Old Kings Highway South, Suite 101, Darien 203-836-2744 dentalspecialistsofdarien .com KIMBERLY A. FARRELL Westport Dental Associates 329 Riverside Avenue, Westport 203-227-3709 westportdental.com STANLEY P. FREEMAN Westport Dental Associates 329 Riverside Avenue, Westport 203-227-3709 westportdental.com JEFFREY D. O’CONNELL Gold Coast Dental 1177 Post Road, Suite 2A, Fairfield 203-292-9292 goldcoastdentalpros.com STEVEN J. ROTHENBERG Dental Specialists of Darien 24 Old Kings Highway South, Suite 1, Darien 203-836-2744 dentalspecialistsofdarien .com MIN-SUNG YOON Evergreen Family Dental & Southbury Smiles 1300 Post Road, Suite 101, Fairfield 203-259-7870 evergreenfamilydental group.com S

This list is excerpted from 2020 the topDentists™ list, which includes listings for 215 dentists and specialists in the Fairfield County area. For more information, call 706-364-0853; write P.O. Box 970, Augusta, GA 30903; email info@usatopdentists.com or visit usatopdentists.com. TopDentists has used its best efforts in assembling material for this list but does not warrant that the information contained herein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Copyright 2010-2020 by topDentists, Augusta, GA. All rights reserved. This list, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without permission of topDentists. No fees may be charged, directly or indirectly, for the use of the information in this list without permission.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

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2020 | Dental PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

2020

2020 Dental

PROFILES Show Off Your Smile

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©ALLA - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Did you know that having healthy teeth, mouth and gums plays a vital role in your overall health? Your dentist can help decrease your risk of not only gum disease, tooth decay and halitosis, but also other issues such as stroke or heart attack. Finding the right dentist can be a challenge, so we’ve made it easier for you. The following pages introduce some of Fairfield County’s most prominent dental professionals who put your oral health at the forefront of their priorities.

Choose a trusted individual to provide you and your family with the utmost care you deserve.

A happy smile is a healthy one.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Where did you go to school?

Rosemary Ryan, DDS Tiffany Christensen, DDS, MS GREENWICH BRACES, LLC SPECIALTY: Orthodontics 4 Dearfield Drive Greenwich, CT 203.869.2044 greenwichbraces.com

Dr. Ryan: DDS: Columbia University-College of Dental Medicine; General Practice Residency: Lenox Hill Hospital, NYC; Orthodontic Residency: Montefiore Medical Center Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Christensen: DDS: Columbia University-College of Dental Medicine; MS, Orthodontic Residency: Columbia University-College of Dental Medicine

Years of practice?

Dr. Ryan has been practicing for twenty-eight years. She graduated dental school in 1992 and completed her orthodontic training in 1995.

Dr. Christensen has been practicing for thirteen years.

She graduated dental school in 2007 and completed her

CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S DENTISTRY DENTISTRY AND AND ORTHODONTICS ORTHODONTICS OF OF GREENWICH GREENWICH

How do you change people’s lives?

What sets you apart from your competition?

We feel it is important to recognize a need for compassion beyond braces.

We want our patients to feel beautiful and smile on the inside, as well as on the outside. Our motto is treat each patient as if they are our family member. We truly enjoy our patients and look forward to their visits. We strive to make our office the most safe and comfortable environment possible. Additionally, we feel blessed to live and work in such a great community. Dr. Ryan and Dr. Christensen believe in paying it forward. We support local charities to make our community a better place for everyone. Every month, we commit a portion of our proceeds to a charitable organization. Doing this makes our community and our world a better place.

At Greenwich Braces, two orthodontic minds, with years of extensive training and experience, go into formulating each orthodontic treatment plan. Dr. Ryan and Dr. Christensen combine the greatest aspects of their skills and experience to provide the best care possible to our patients.

Over the past 22 years, we have treated more than 3,900 orthodontic patients with braces, Invisalign® and a variety of other treatment modalities. Some of our patients have even commuted from as far away as London, Qatar, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and New Jersey, to be treated in our office.

Twenty-five years

What sets you apart from your competition?

Proudly, we are the choice for many pediatricians’ and dentists’ children.

What is your greatest achievement?

When past patients come back with their children for me to treat, it is the greatest compliment I can ever receive!!

Silvestro Iommazzo, Iommazzo, DDS DDS & Silvestro & Victor Victor Pardi, Pardi, DDS DDS As aa specialist specialist in in pediatric pediatric As dentistry, Dr. Dr. Iommazzo Iommazzo cares cares dentistry, for the the oral oral health health of of children children for from infancy infancy to to early early adult. adult. As As a a from specialist in in orthodontics orthodontics Dr. Dr. specialist Pardi supports supports patients patients by by Pardi improving their their smiles smiles and and selfselfimproving esteem, in addition to correcting esteem, in addition to correcting even the most complex bite even the most complex bite problems. We both have different problems. We both have different passions but strive to do all we passions but strive to do all we can for our patients. can for our patients.

orthodontic training in 2010.

Years in practice?

1212 1212 East East Putnam Putnam Avenue Avenue Riverside, Riverside, CT CT 203.698.0794 203.698.0794 childrensdentistrychildrensdentistryandorthodontics.com andorthodontics.com

Why did did you you choose choose Why your specialty? specialty? your

2020 | Dental PROFILES

What What sets sets you you apart apart from from your your competition? competition?

Why is it important for children to get screened by the age of 7?

Our Our practice practice has has continued continued to to serve serve our our community community for for over over thirty thirty years. years. We We provide provide state-of-the-art state-of-the-art treatment treatment in in all all phases phases of of pediatric pediatric dentistry dentistry and and orthodontics, orthodontics, including including emergency emergency service service 24-7.

24-7. We We are constantly engaged in are constantly engaged in continuing education to stay continuing education to stay up-to-date with the latest up-to-date with the latest technologies to best serve our technologies to best serve our patients and families. patients and families.

The American Association of Orthodontics recommends an evaluation by an orthodontist by age seven because many times early developmental treatment guides permanent teeth into a more favorable position, lowers the risk of dental trauma and can correct skeletal discrepancies.

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Scott Kesselman D.D.S RIVERSIDE ORTHODONTICS SPECIALTY: Invisalign® and Braces For All Ages 1171 East Putnam Avenue Riverside, CT 203.698.0045 riversideortho.net

MARA MILLER Carrier and Company

JUDGES

JESSE CARRIER Carrier and Company

BRIAN SAWYER Sawyer | Berson

EDWARD SIEGEL Edward Siegel Architect

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT SEPTEMBER 16 5:30 PM

KEITH WILLIAMS Nievera Williams

A-List Awards 2020

TH

BRITT ZUNINO Studio DB

11 ANNUAL

athome magazine presents the

DAMIAN ZUNINO Studio DB

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EXCLUSIVE AWARD SPONSOR

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

We hope this year’s set of finalists, with their innovative and imaginative projects, is just the inspiration you have been looking for. Join us on September 16, 2020 for our virtual awards ceremony, where the winners for each category will be revealed. We wish our finalists much luck, and we thank all who entered, as well as our judges and our generous sponsors, who have made this celebration possible.

The following is a listing of the 2020 A-List Awards finalists by category. Please note that this listing includes the entrant’s name and contact information for each finalist. To view the full list of professionals credited for each project as well as a project photo, please visit athomealistawards.com to view our new digital A-List Awards program. Each finalist “page” can be shared on social media, and the link to each “page” can be included on a website or forwarded via email.

This year has been unlike any other. Due to the worldwide pandemic, our vision for 2020 has been altered—we have been sheltering at home, pivoting how and where we work, and adapting to an ever-changing reality. Despite these unprecedented challenges, our design community has created and embraced a new vision for 2020—they have shown, now more than ever, how essential good design is to making our spaces reflect who we are, how we live, and the way we want to feel. Against all odds, we received more entries than ever before in this year’s A-List competition, and our esteemed panel of judges had the unenviable task of determining the finalists from a truly impressive pool of submissions.

We thank our judges for giving their time and expertise to this year’s competition.

Welcome to athome magazine’s eleventh annual A-List Awards.

Separate but together

Laura Kaehler Architects @laurakaehlerarchitects Laura Kaehler, Principal Matt Arnott, Project Architect Laura Kaehler Architects Greenwich; 203-629-4646 kaehlerarchitects.com

Hemingway Fine Homes @hemingwayconstruction Hemingway Fine Homes Greenwich; 203-625-0566 hemingwayconstruction.com

Clarity Home Interiors @clarityhome Amy Zolin Clarity Home Interiors Greenwich; 203-340-2468 clarityhomeinteriors.com

BATH DESIGN: Transitional/Modern

Steven Mueller Architects @steven_mueller_architects Steven Mueller Architects Greenwich; 203-869-3758 stevenmuellerarchitects.com

Sage Design @sage_design_ct Kathy Hodge Sage Design Fairfield; 203-553-9656 sagedesign.com

Pimlico Interiors @pimlicointeriors Melissa Lindsay Pimlico Interiors Westport; 203-972-8166 pimlicointeriors.com

Mark P. Finlay Architects @mpfarchitects Jay Valade Deborah Szabo Maureen Kokorda Mark P. Finlay Architects Southport; 203-254-2388 markfinlay.com

BATH DESIGN: Trad/Classic

Morgan Harrison Home @morganharrisonhome Morgan Harrison Home New Canaan; 203-554-0941 morganharrisonhome.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

DINING ROOM

Neil Hauck Architects @neil_hauck_architects Neil Hauck, Principal Brian O’Connor Robert Metzgar Neil Hauck Architects Darien; 203-655-9340 neilhauckarchitects.com

Laura Kaehler Architects @laurakaehlerarchitects Laura Kaehler, Lead Designer Richard Basic, Team Architect Victor Sheptovitsky, Team Architect Laura Kaehler Architects Greenwich; 203-629-4646 kaehlerarchitects.com

Cobble Court Interiors @cobblecourtinteriors Robert Rizzo Cobble Court Interiors New Canaan; 203-972-7878 cobblecourt.com

Jody Fierz Interior Design Ridgefield; 203-722-1447 jodyfierz.com

Jody Fierz Interior Design with Doyle Coffin Architecture @jodyfierzint @doylecoffin @doylecoffininteriors

Huestis Tucker Architects @huestistuckerarchitects Jennifer Huestis Huestis Tucker Architects Woodbridge; 203-248-1007 huestistucker.com

KITCHEN DESIGN: Trad/Classic

The Rath Project @therathproject Diane Rath The Rath Project Fairfield; 518-542-6268 therathproject.com

Pimlico Interiors @pimlicointeriors Melissa Lindsay Pimlico Interiors Westport; 203-972-8166 pimlicointeriors.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

ENTRYWAY

Robin Henry Studio @robinhenryid Robin Henry Studio Westport; 646-409-3099 robinhenrystudio.com

COMMERCIAL SPACE: Interior Design + Architecture Beinfield Architecture @beinfieldarchitecture Beinfield Architecture Norwalk; 203-838-5789 beinfield.com

Pimlico Interiors @pimlicointeriors Melissa Lindsay Pimlico Interiors Westport; 203-972-8166 pimlicointeriors.com

Studio KC @studiokcinteriors Katie Canfield Studio KC Stamford; 845-705-0684 studiokcinteriors.com

Robin Carroll (Interior Designer) KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP @karpassociatesinc

Deane, Inc. @kitchensbydeane Peter Deane Deane, Inc. Stamford; 203-327-7008 deaneinc.com

Alisberg Parker Architects @alisbergparker Susan Alisberg Alisberg Parker Architects Old Greenwich 203-637-8730 alisbergparker.com

KITCHEN DESIGN: Transitional/Modern

Sarah Blank Design Studio @sarahblankdesign Sarah Blank Design Studio Greenwich; 203-655-6900 sarahblankdesignstudio.com

Robert Dean Architects @robertdeanarchitects Robert Dean Architects New Canaan; 203-966-8333 robertdeanarchitects.com

Morgan Harrison Home @morganharrisonhome Morgan Harrison Home New Canaan; 203-594-7878 morganharrisonhome.com

Peter Coffin Doyle Coffin Architecture Ridgefield; 203-431-6001 doylecoffinarchitecture.com

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT / SEPTEMBER 16 / 5:30 PM

Roughan Interiors @roughaninteriors Roughan Interiors Weston and New York City 203-769-1150 roughaninteriors.com

Pimlico Interiors @pimlicointeriors Melissa Lindsay Pimlico Interiors Westport; 203-972-8166 pimlicointeriors.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

Charles Hilton Charles Hilton Architects Greenwich; 203-489-3800 hiltonarchitects.com

Ray Forehand Christina Lake Forehand + Lake Fairfield; 203-259-7636 forehandlake.com

Forehand + Lake with Charles Hilton Architects @forehand_lakedesign @charleshiltonarchitects

BEDROOM: Trad/Classic

Sage & Ginger @sageandgingerdesigns Emily Fuhrman Sage & Ginger New Canaan; 203-594-9862 sageandginger.com

Ryan Salvatore Design @ryansalvatorearchitecture Ryan Salvatore Design New York City; 212-475-0050 ryan-salvatore.com

ADDRESS:

Tischler und Sohn (USA) Ltd.

Tischler products are manufactured in our environmentally and Tischler und Sohn manufactures custom mahogany wood windows computer-controlled facility. These products consist of both European and doors in Germany. and domestic-style profiles and continue to be the benchmark in the products are manufactured our environmentally and industry,Tischler providing unsurpassed quality and in durability. computer-controlled facility. These products consist of both European To better serve our clients Tischler has added thermally broken, laserand domestic-style profiles and continue to be the benchmark in the cut stainless steel and hot-rolled steel, bronze and stainless steel industry, providing unsurpassed quality and durability. windows and doors. In addition, Tischler offers an aluminum sliding To system better serve ourofclients has added thermally broken, operating capable sizes Tischler up to thirty-nine feet by nine feet laser-cut stainless hot-rolled bronze and stainless steel ten inches and fixed units steel up toand twenty feet bysteel, ten feet six inches. windows and doors.a In addition, Tischler offers an aluminum sliding This product incorporates revolutionary patented pneumatic operating capable of sizes up to thirty-nine gasket system thatsystem can withstand extreme wind pressure. feet All by nine feet ten inches and with fixedspecifications units up to twenty feet by ten feet six inches. products are available that meet Florida Building This product incorporates a revolutionary patented pneumatic Code requirements for hurricane impact resistance, and air and gasket system thatproducts can withstand extremeready-to-install wind pressure.by All water infiltration.

Tischler are delivered products aretechnicians. available with specifications that meet Florida Building our factory-trained Code requirements for hurricane impact resistance, and air and water infiltration. Tischler products are delivered ready-to-install by our factory-trained technicians.

Tischler und Sohn manufactures custom mahogany wood windows and doors in Germany.

tischlerwindows.com

WEBSITE:

203-674-0600

tischlerwindows.com PHONE:

WEBSITE:

203-674-0600 Six Suburban Avenue Stamford, CT 06901

PHONE:

Six Suburban Avenue Stamford, CT 06901

ADDRESS:

Tischler und Sohn (USA) Ltd.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

PRESENTING SPONSOR

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A-LIST FINALISTS 2020 Alist.tischler.7.20.indd 1 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

Tischler und Sohn (USA) Ltd. Six Suburban Avenue, Stamford, CT 06901 Telephone 203/674/0600 • Telefax 203/674/0601

ÂŽ

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TISCHLER WINDOWS AND DOORS. UNCOMMON. UNCOMPROMISING.

ARCHITECT: MARK P. FINLAY ARCHITECTS, AIA PHOTO BY WARREN JAGGER

Hobbs, Inc.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Hobbs, Inc. is an award-winning builder of distinctive homes in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Brothers Scott and Ian Hobbs are proud to honor the legacy of integrity, quality and Hobbs,instilled Inc. is an builder of distinctive homes in client service by award-winning their grandfather and founder, Theodore Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Brothers Scott and Ian deFreyne Hobbs, over six decades ago.

Hobbs are proud to honor the legacy of integrity, quality and The company sustainsinstilled strong,by collaborative relationships with Theodore client service their grandfather and founder, the mostdeFreyne respected architects and designers in the construction Hobbs, over six decades ago. industry. They employ experienced, dedicated professionals and company relationships talentedThe craftsmen to sustains plan andstrong, executecollaborative every step of the “Hobbs with the most respected architects and designers in the construction Approach” for each project. Whether renovating an apartment in industry.

They employ experienced, dedicated professionals New York City, constructing a waterfront home in the Hamptons or and to plan and execute every of the “Hobbs buildingtalented a family craftsmen retreat in Connecticut, each team is instep constant Approach” for each project. Whether apartment in communication to deliver a superior building renovating experience an from New York City, constructing a waterfront home in the Hamptons or concept to completion and beyond. Hobbs Care, a division of Hobbs, building a family retreat in Connecticut, each team is in constant Inc., is available to clients to provide comprehensive maintenance communication to deliver a superior building experience from programs, renovations and continual home improvement services. concept to completion and beyond. Hobbs Care, a division of Hobbs, The company’s success to is marked byprovide their transparency, synergy Inc., is available clients to comprehensive maintenance and determination to adhere to the values and client services thatservices. programs, renovations and continual home improvement make the company great.

The company’s success is marked by their transparency, synergy and determination to adhere to the values and client services that make the company great.

hobbsinc.com; hobbs-care.com

WEBSITES:

203-966-0726

WEBSITES: PHONE:hobbs-care.com hobbsinc.com;

Hobbs Care: New Canaan, CT | Saddle River, NJ Hobbs, Inc: New Canaan, CT | New York, NY PHONE: Saddle River, NJ | Bridgehampton, NY 203-966-0726 Hobbs Care: New Canaan, CT | Saddle River, NJ

ADDRESS:

Hobbs, Inc: New Canaan, CT | New York, NY Saddle River, NJ | Bridgehampton, NY

ADDRESS:

Hobbs, Inc.

A-LIST SPONSOR

203.966.0726

www.hobbsinc.com

CONNECTICUT • NEW YORK • NEW JERSEY

DISTINCTIVE HOMES, ADDITIONS & RENOVATIONS

Jane Beiles Photography Interior Design by Lynn Morgan Brooks & Falotico Associates, Inc.

A-LIST FINALISTS 2020 JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT / SEPTEMBER 16 / 5:30 PM

Fairview Hearthside Fairview Hearthside ADDRESS:

NY 12601

Hobbs A-List Program ad 2019 FINAL bleed.indd 1

83

TOP DISTRIBUTOR OF

68 Violet Avenue | Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Call for a free estimate: 845 452-8444 fairviewhearthside.com

The Leader in Sales and Installation of Fireplaces and Outdoor Kitchens Serving Fairfield and Westchester Counties

A-LIST FINALISTS 2020 7/26/19 11:53 AM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

Our team sales would team would be happy visitjob your or home Our sales be happy to visittoyour sitejob orsite home for for a free estimate for your dream project!

Please give us a a free estimate for your dream project! Please give us a call at call at 452-8444 or email us at info@fairviewhearthside.com and CONNECTICUT • NEW YORK • NEWand JERSEY (845) (845) 452-8444 or email us at info@fairviewhearthside.com we will be happy to speak with you.

203.966.0726 www.hobbsinc.com we will be happy to speak with you.

Our pledge is to deliver an extraordinary service while Our pledge is to deliver an extraordinary service while maintaining a high level of professionalism, integrity, foresight, maintaining a high level of professionalism, integrity, foresight, and fairness. are committed to growing Fairview Hearthside and fairness.

We areWe committed to growing Fairview Hearthside DISTINCTIVE HOMES,satisfaction.

ADDITIONS & RENOVATIONS through complete customer through complete customer satisfaction.

Each project that Fairview Hearthside is involved in takes careful Each project that Fairview Hearthside is involved in takes careful thought and planning, and we pride ourselves on the ability to thought and planning and we pride ourselves on the ability to work with the customer in choosing the fireplace that best suits work with the customer in choosing the fireplace that best suits their style and needs. Fairview Hearthside offers many services their style and needs. Fairview Hearthside offers many services to complete your project, from designing the look that you want to complete your project, from designing the look that you want to achieve through the follow-up maintenance of your hearth to achieve through the follow up maintenance of your hearth product for years to come. We maintain a staff of experienced, product for years to come. We maintain a staff of experienced, Jane Beiles Photography well-traveled and fully ensured technicians, as well as specialists Interior Design by Lynn Morgan Brookswell-traveled & Falotico Associates, Inc. and fully ensured technicians, as well as specialists in our Sales/Design team, and we are confident that your project in our Sales/ Design team and we are confident that your project will be handled with professionalism, thoroughness, cleanliness, will be handled with professionalism, thoroughness, cleanliness, and with safety in mind. and with safety in mind.

For over 40 years, Fairview Hearthside is the Hudson Valley’s For over 40 years Fairview Hearthside is the Hudson Valley’s first name in hearth products. Having recently renovated our first name in hearth products. Having recently renovated our showroom at 68 Violet Avenue in Poughkeepsie, NY, we continue showroom at 68 Violet Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY, we continue to serve builders, architects, and designers with the very best of to serve builders, architects, and designers with the very best of the hearth industry, including gas and wood fireplaces, outdoor the hearth industry, including gas and wood fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, pizza ovens, grills, fire pits, and architectural stone. kitchens, pizza ovens, grills, fire pits, and architectural stone.

fairviewhearthside.com

fairviewhearthside.com WEBSITE:

845-452-8444 WEBSITE:

845-452-8444 PHONE:

PHONE: Poughkeepsie,

68 Violet Avenue ADDRESS: Poughkeepsie, 12601 68 VioletNY Avenue

A-LIST SPONSOR

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Kathleen Hay Designs @kathleenhaydesigns Kathleen Hay Designs Nantucket, MA; 508-228-1219 kathleenhaydesigns.com

Robin Carroll (Interior Designer) KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP @karpassociatesinc

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

Charles Hilton Charles Hilton Architects Greenwich; 203-489-3800 hiltonarchitects.com

Ray Forehand Christina Lake Forehand + Lake Fairfield; 203-259-7636 forehandlake.com

Forehand + Lake with Charles Hilton Architects @forehand_lakedesign @charleshiltonarchitects

BEDROOM: Transitional/Modern

Tanner White Architects @tannerwhitearchitects Tanner White Architects Westport; 203-283-4749 tannerwhitearchitects.com

Sellars Lathrop Architects @sellarslathroparchitects Sellars Lathrop Architects Westport; 203-222-0229 sellarslathrop.com

Robin Carroll (Interior Designer) KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP New Canaan; 203-972-3366 karpassociatesinc.com

KARP @karpassociatesinc

Douglas VanderHorn Architects @dvharchitects Douglas VanderHorn, Principal David Milliken, Project Manager Douglas VanderHorn Architects Greenwich; 203-622-7000 vanderhornarchitects.com

RENOVATION

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com Roughan Interiors @roughaninteriors ROMO VA NGUA RD K EL LY WE A RS T L ER Roughan Interiors Weston and New York City 203-769-1150 roughaninteriors.com

Wesley Stout Associates @wesleystoutassociates Wesley Stout Associates New Canaan; 203-966-3100 wesleystout.com LANDSCAPE: Less Than 1 Acre

Devore Associates Devore Associates Fairfield; 203-256-8950 devoreassoc.com

CEN T URY CISCO McGUIRE M A DE GOODS

SCHWART ZDE SIGNSHOWROOM.COM

A N I N T E R I O R S C O L L E C T I V E , C U R AT E D F O R T H E T R A D E

SCHWARTZ DESIGN SHOWROOM

EL I T IS ERIC K US T ER

D2 Interieurs @d2interieurs Denise Davies D2 Interieurs Weston; 646-326-7048 d2interieurs.com

Ray Forehand Christina Lake Forehand + Lake Fairfield; 203-259-7636 forehandlake.com

Charles Hilton Charles Hilton Architects Greenwich; 203-489-3800 hiltonarchitects.com

Vicente-Burin Architects @vicenteburin Paulo Vicente, Principal in Charge Vicente-Burin Architects Fairfield; 203-319-9571 vbarchitect.com

Sellars Lathrop Architects @sellarslathroparchitects Sellars Lathrop Architects Westport; 203-222-0229 sellarslathrop.com

Charles Hilton Architects with Forehand + Lake @charleshiltonarchitects @forehand_lakedesign

LIVING SPACE

Prutting + Company Custom Builders @pruttingbuilder Prutting + Company Custom Builders Stamford; 203-972-1028 prutting.com

Nautilus Architects @nautilusarchitects2019 Christopher Arelt Nautilus Architects Lyme; 860-227-1169 nautilusarchitects.com

MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Rosalia Sanni Design @rosalia_sanni_design Rosalia Sanni Design Old Greenwich; 203-918-4619 rosaliasanni.com

Renée Byers Landscape Architect @reneebyers_landscape architect Renée Byers Landscape Architect Greenwich; 203-489-0800 reneebyers.com

Renée Byers Landscape Architect @reneebyers_landscape architect Renée Byers Landscape Architect Greenwich; 203-489-0800 reneebyers.com

James Doyle Design Associates @jamesdoyledesign associates James Doyle Design Associates Greenwich; 203-869-2900 jdda.com

Wesley Stout Elisa Miret-Pollino Cory Jorgensen Wesley Stout Associates New Canaan; 203-966-3100 wesleystout.com

Charles Haver Stewart Skolnick Haver & Skolnick Architects Roxbury; 860-354-1031 haverskolnickarchitects.com

Haver & Skolnick Architects with Wesley Stout Associates @haverskolnickarchitects @wesleystoutassociates

LANDSCAPE: Greater Than 1 Acre

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT / SEPTEMBER 16 / 5:30 PM

Schwartz Design Showroom (SD Showroom) is a 5,500-square-foot Schwartz Design (SD Showroom) is a 5,500-square-foot showroom exclusive toShowroom the trade, located in the Stamford Waterside exclusive to the trade, located in the Stamford Waterside Designshowroom District. The stunning showroom offers area interior Design Theastunning showroom offers area interior designers andDistrict. architects unique experience, one that infuses designers architects a unique experience, one that infuses seventy years ofand industry experience with the forward-thinking years of experienceexecutive, with the forward-thinking visionseventy and creativity ofindustry former marketing owner Alexis vision and creativity of former marketing executive, owner Varbero.

Alexis Varbero.

Exclusive to the trade, SD Showroom helps clients build their Exclusive the provides trade, SDend-to-end Showroomexpertise helps clients their businesses.

Theto team and build support, businesses.

The team provides end-to-end expertise and from research through delivery and follow-up customer service.support, from research through delivery and follow-up customer service.

What began as a family-run furniture store seventy years ago Whatgrandfather, began as a has family-run storedestination seventy years

by Alexis’ evolvedfurniture into a design for ago by Alexis’ grandfather, has evolved into a design destination innovators across the tri-state area. Throughout its rich history, SDfor innovators across tri-state area.

Throughout its rich history, Showroom has been at the forefront of the interior design industry, has been at theservice forefront the interior design knownSD forShowroom its exceptional customer andofemphasis on the known for its exceptional customer service and emphasis designindustry, experience. on the design experience.

Alexis also understands the complexities and needs of small Alexis As also the complexities and needs of small businesses. a understands result, SD Showroom offers ongoing opportunities businesses.

As a result, SD Showroom ongoing opportunities to help foster designers’ professional growthoffers and development, with to help foster designers’events professional growth and a full calendar of networking and seminars.

And development, there is also withprogram a full calendar networking events seminars.

And there a loyalty offeringofspendable credits asand a way to further is also a loyalty program offering spendable credits as a way to build business for interior designers. further build business for interior designers.

@schwartzdesignshowroom INSTAGRAM: @schwartzdesignshowroom

schwartzdesignshowroom.com WEBSITE: schwartzdesignshowroom.com INSTAGRAM:

203-817-0433 PHONE: 203-817-0433 WEBSITE:

330 Fairfield Avenue ADDRESS: Stamford, 06901Avenue 330 CT Fairfield Stamford, CT 06901 PHONE:

Schwartz Design Showroom Schwartz Design Showroom ADDRESS:

PRESENTING SPONSOR PRESENTING SPONSOR

77 85

A-LIST FINALISTS 2020 athomefc.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

SCHWART ZDE SIGNSHOWROOM.COM

A N I N T E R I O R S C O L L E C T I V E , C U R AT E D F O R T H E T R A D E

SCHWARTZ DESIGN SHOWROOM

EL I T IS ERIC K US T ER ROMO VA NGUA RD K EL LY WE A RS T L ER CEN T URY CISCO McGUIRE M A DE GOODS

Ring’s End

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Ring’s End, a Connecticut-based lumber and building materials retailer, serves the CT shoreline, South County, RI, and Southern Westchester County, NY. Founded in 1902 in Darien, Ring’s End today End, alumberyards, Connecticut-based lumber and paint building materials has nineRing’s full-service ten free-standing centers, retailer, serves the CT shoreline, South County, RI, and Southern most with dedicated design and décor showrooms, a commercial Westchester County, NY. Founded in 1902 in Darien, Ring’s paint and lacquer facility, a custom millwork shop, a centralized End today has warehouse, nine full-service lumberyards, ten freestanding distribution and an education center.

Ring’s Endpaint is thecenters, most with dedicated andand décor showrooms, a commercial largest retailer of both Marvindesign windows doors and Benjamin paint and lacquer facility, a custom millwork shop, a centralized Moore paint in the Northeast. This family-run company remains distribution warehouse, and an education center.

Ring’s End is the true to its founding principles, catering to builders, remodelers and largest retailer of both Marvin windows and doors and Benjamin homeowners alike with an inventory of only the highest-quality Moore paint in the Northeast.

This family-run company remains materials, a reputation for superior service, and a commitment to true to its founding principles, catering to builders, remodelers the local communities. Over the course of its 118-year history, Ring’s homeowners alike with an inventory of only the highest-quality End hasand increased their product offerings and embraced technology materials, a reputation for superior service, and a commitment to with the launch of an e-commerce website to supplement its brick the local communities. the course of its 118-year history, Ring’s and mortar stores, complementOver the modern shopping experience, End has increased their product offerings and embraced technology and cater to a diverse demographic. with the launch of an e-commerce website to supplement its brick and mortar stores, complement the modern shopping experience, and cater to a diverse demographic.

RingsEnd.com

WEBSITE:

800-390-1000

PHONE:

800-390-1000 ADDRESS: 181 West Avenue WEBSITE: Darien, CT 06820 RingsEnd.com

PHONE:

181 West Avenue Darien, CT 06820

ADDRESS:

Ring’s End

PRESENTING SPONSOR

MARVIN SIGNATURE™ COLLECTION

MODERN

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT / SEPTEMBER 16 / 5:30 PM

RingsEnd.com 800 • 390 • 1000

At Marvin, we’re driven by this purpose: to imagine and create better ways of living. As people spend more time indoors, we recognize that our work isn’t just about building better windows and doors—it’s about opening new possibilities for how people live, work, think and feel inside a Marvin space. Warm sunlight, fresh air and a connection to the natural world can instantly change the mood of a home or office. We design our products to make that connection feel seamless—even in the most challenging of spaces. We are committed to design that is as functional and intuitive as it is beautiful. Rather than meeting expectations, we push ourselves to elevate the standard for excellence. Whether we’re replicating historic millwork, engineering uninterrupted views or improving energy performance, we look for what we can do better—and then we design it. Since the day we opened our doors in 1912 as a family-owned and -operated cedar and lumber company, we’ve looked for ways to help people live better. We continue to evolve by raising the bar, building quality, beauty and simplicity into people’s everyday lives.

marvin.com

WEBSITE:

800-966-2784

PHONE:

2 Pearson Way Enfield, CT 06082

ADDRESS:

Marvin

PRESENTING SPONSOR

87

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

pgarynproductions.com (203) 722-5401

Emmy Award winning Noah Finz is a veteran TV Sports reporter and anchor. He created and manages the Vantage Sports Network from Frontier highlighting CT sports. He spent 18 years as Sports Director for WTNH-TV, Connecticut’s ABC affiliate.

NOAH FINZ

Emmy Award winning Kendra Farn is a veteran TV news reporter and anchor. She spent 13 years at WCBS-TV, and WNBC-TV in New York City, the country’s largest television market.

KENDRA FARN

Your business needs a high quality video. Still photos just don’t cut it. Nothing can sell you or your company better than video. Moving pictures and sound are far more engaging to customers and clients. Business videos can be multipurposed: to enhance your website, use for presentations, for e-newsletters, for social networking sites, and so on. Video is the way of today and is so easily accessible to everyone.

Your video produced by real journalists.

Yvonne Ferris Interiors @yvonneferrisinteriors Yvonne Ferris Interiors Westport; 203-292-8614 yvonneferrisinteriors.com

Roughan Interiors @roughaninteriors Roughan Interiors Weston and New York City 203-769-1150 roughaninteriors.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

Charles Hilton Charles Hilton Architects Greenwich; 203-489-3800 hiltonarchitects.com

Last Detail Interior Design @lastdetailinteriordesign Carey Karlan Last Detail Interior Design Darien; 203-921-5151 careykarlan.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

PLAY SPACE: KID

InnerSpace Electronics @innerspaceelectronics InnerSpace Electronics Mt. Kisco, NY; 914-937-9700 ieiny.com

Christopher Pagliaro Architects Darien; 203-838-5517 christopherpagliaro architects.com

Hemingway Fine Homes Greenwich; 203-625-0566 hemingwayconstruction.com

Hemingway Fine Homes with Christopher Pagliaro Architects @hemingwayconstruction @c.pagliaro.architects

D2 Interieurs @d2interieurs Denise Davies D2 Interieurs Weston; 646-326-7048 d2interieurs.com

Alisberg Parker Architects @alisbergparker Susan Alisberg Alisberg Parker Architects Old Greenwich 203-637-8730 alisbergparker.com

Forehand + Lake with Charles Hilton Architects @forehand_lakedesign @charleshiltonarchitects

Ray Forehand Christina Lake Forehand + Lake Fairfield; 203-259-7636 forehandlake.com

PLAY SPACE: ADULT

OFFICE/LIBRARY

D2 Interieurs @d2interieurs Denise Davies D2 Interieurs Weston; 646-326-7048 d2interieurs.com

KID/TEEN BEDROOM

William D. Earls AIA Architect @williamd.earlsaia William D. Earls AIA Architect Wilton; 203-219-7838 williamearls.com

Nautilus Architects @nautilusarchitects2019 Christopher Arelt Nautilus Architects Lyme; 860-227-1169 nautilusarchitects.com

Haver & Skolnick Architects @haverskolnickarchitects Charles Haver Stewart Skolnick Haver & Skolnick Architects Roxbury; 860-354-1031 haverskolnickarchitects.com

DeMotte Architects @demottearchitects DeMotte Architects Ridgefield; 203-431-8890 demottearchitects.com

POOL HOUSE

William Lyon Designs @williamlyondesigns William Lyon Designs Stamford; 203-489-5624 williamlyondesigns.com

Smart D2 Playrooms @smartd2playrooms Karri Bowen-Poole Denise Davies Smart D2 Playrooms Weston; 914-260-3042 smartd2playrooms.com

Mark P. Finlay Architects @mpfarchitects Jay Valade Deborah Szabo Maureen Kokorda Mark P. Finlay Architects Southport; 203-254-2388 markfinlay.com

Ray Forehand Christina Lake Forehand + Lake Fairfield; 203-259-7636 forehandlake.com

Charles Hilton Charles Hilton Architects Greenwich; 203-489-3800 hiltonarchitects.com

Charles Hilton Architects with Forehand + Lake @charleshiltonarchitects @forehand_lakedesign

TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE: Greater Than 7,000 Square Feet

Ryan Salvatore Design @ryansalvatorearchitecture Ryan Salvatore Design New York City; 212-475-0050 ryan-salvatore.com

Karen Bow Interiors @karenbowinteriors Karen Bow Interiors Darien; 914-953-1517 karenbow.com

DB Design @dianabyrnedesign Diana Byrne DB Design Rye, NY; 646-246-2617 dbdesigninc.com

JOIN OUR VIRTUAL EVENT / SEPTEMBER 16 / 5:30 PM

Sellars Lathrop Architects @sellarslathroparchitects Sellars Lathrop Architects Westport; 203-222-0229 sellarslathrop.com

Robert A. Cardello Architects @cardelloarchitects Robert A. Cardello Architects Westport; 203-853-2524 cardelloarchitects.com

Kathleen Hay Designs @kathleenhaydesigns Kathleen Hay Designs Nantucket, MA 508-221-0159 kathleenhaydesigns.com

Huestis Tucker Architects @huestistuckerarchitects Jennifer Huestis Huestis Tucker Architects Woodbridge; 203-248-1007 huestistucker.com

Browning Residential Design Margaret Browning Kufferman Browning Residential Design Westport; 203-610-1478 browningdesignct.com

TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE: Less Than 7,000 Square Feet

Robert A. Cardello Architects @cardelloarchitects Robert A. Cardello Architects Westport; 203-853-2524 cardelloarchitects.com

PRESENTING SPONSORS

89

AWARD SPONSOR

GIFT BAG SPONSOR

Registration includes a suggested donation of $25, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County.

In this time of health and economic crisis, many more families are seeking help for the first time. Resources are running low and demand is greater than ever. Please consider donating and make a difference in your community.

So, sit back, pop the champagne and let’s celebrate together— you don’t want to miss this!

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

Register for your full-access pass to design’s biggest night!

Whether you’re a design pro or an aficionado, prepare to be inspired!

Coming to you from Norwalk’s Wall Street Theater, we will reveal the 11th Annual A-List Awards winners at our virtual ceremony.

Celebrate with us and your local design community!

Go to athomealistawards.com to register and receive your access link to the show. Watching with a group? Each individual viewer must register to receive a $100 gift card to Serena & Lily.

Registered attendees will receive a $100 gift card to Serena & Lily

REGISTER NOW FOR FULL ACCESS: athomealistawards.com

September 16, 2020 / 5:30pm

Find out at our 11th Annual A-List Awards Virtual Ceremony

And the winner is...

the premier home design competition

awards

JOIN US FOR THE THE JOIN US FOR RE-EVENTED 2020 ANNUAL RE-EVENTED 2020 ANNUAL

GALA & & AWARDS GALA AWARDS OCTOBER 30, 30, 2020 ATAT 12PM OCTOBER 2020 12PM

2020 WOMAN WITH WITH IMPACT AWARD RECIPIENTS 2020 WOMAN IMPACT AWARD RECIPIENTS

ABRAHAMS-JOHN VANESSA ABRAHAMS-JOHN LAURA DRYNAN LAURA DRYNAN

V V II R R T T U U A A L L

KATHLEEN SILARD KATHLEEN SILARD

lobal Director Diversity, Inclusion, Partner, Bourgeon Management President and CEO, Stamford Health of Global Diversity, Inclusion, Partner,Capital Bourgeon Capital Management President and CEO, Stamford Health nt Acquisition, Linde and Talent Acquisition, Linde

We recognizing will also be recognizing 2020 Women Awardees, WBDC clients who will also be our 2020our Women Rising Rising Awardees, WBDC clients who

embody our mission to strengthen Connecticut’s communities through entrepreneurship. y our mission to strengthen Connecticut’s communities through entrepreneurship.

Theseare individuals are truly women rising out devastating of the devastating economic challenges e individuals truly women rising out of the economic challenges

businesses to face from the COVID-19 pandemic to gender racial disparities. es have had to have facehad - from the- COVID-19 pandemic to gender and and racial disparities.

For more information or sponsorships, contact akalish@ctwbdc.org information on ticketson ortickets sponsorships, pleaseplease contact akalish@ctwbdc.org

Receive the guidance you to need to scale classes, mentoring, e the guidance you need scale withwith classes, mentoring, tailoredand advice and resources to help business thrive. ored advice resources to help youryour business thrive.

For more thanthe twenty years the Women’s Business Development hasleading been leading the way effort n twenty years Women’s Business Development Council Council has been the way for for thisthis effort inin Connecticut by providing women with entrepreneurial training, financial education and access to capital. ticut by providing women with entrepreneurial training, financial education and access to capital.

Learn More: Learn More:

or call 203.353.1750 c.org ctwbdc.org or call 203.353.1750

Sponsor: TitleTitle Sponsor:

E E V V E E N N T T

BUILDING & HOME IMPROVEMENT California Closets............................................ 9 Fairview Hearthside Distributors................. 83 Hobbs Inc...................................................... 82 Marvin............................................................ 87 Ring's End...................................................... 86 Tischler und Sohn..........................................81 BUSINESS & FINANCE Cummings & Lockwood LLC........................ 39 Davidson, Dawson & Clark LLP...................... 8 EDUCATION & CHILDREN Greenwich Academy..................................... 51 Greenwich Country Day School...................47 King School...................................................53 Long Ridge School........................................57 Independent School Guide...........................57 Rye Country Day School...............................53 St Luke's School............................................45 Stamford Board of Education......................49 Whitby School............................................... 51 Winston Preparatory School........................55 St. Joseph High School.................................39 ENTERTAINMENT Stamford Tent & Event Services..................35 P Garyn Productions LLC.............................87

EVENTS A-list Awards.................................................. 78 Children's Learning Center Golf Outing...........55 Closer to Free Ride........................................57 Walk To End Alzheimer's.............................. 91 FOOD, CATERING & LODGING Mackenzie's Bar & Grill..................................10 Marcia Selden Catering.................................13 Winvian...........................................................21 Table 104 Osteria Bar ....................................19 Taco Daddy...................................................2, 3 DECORATING & HOME FURNISHINGS Schwartz Design Showroom.......................85 FASHION Roundabout...................................................23 HEALTH & BEAUTY CT ENT Sinus and Allergy.............................. 14 Nathaniel Witherell........................................ 23 ONS Orthopaedic & Neurosurgery Specialists............................................ Cover 4 Children's Dentistry and Orthodontics of Greenwich.....................................................77 Greenwich Braces..........................................77 Riverside Orthodontics..................................77

Your health and safety are our top priorities, so the Alzheimer s Association Wal to End Alzheimer s won t be a large in person gathering this year — instead, we invite you to wal in small teams of friends and family while others in your community do the same

Sunday, October 11 Fairfield County, CT

Registe today at

alz.org/wal 2020 NATIONAL PRESENTING SPONSORS

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 STAMFORD

91

advertisers index Hospital for Special Surgery......................... 11 Nuvance Health................................................5 Yale New Haven Health/Smilow Cancer Hospital.........................................................57 JEWELRY Henry C. Reid & Sons........................................37 Lux Bond & Green/Rolex..................... Cover 2, 1 NONPROFIT Alzheimer's Association.................................... 91 Breast Cancer Alliance.............................Cover 3 Children's Learning Center...............................55 United Way ........................................................ 39 Women's Business Development Council ......................................................... 90 REAL ESTATE Barbara Hickey, Sotheby's/ William Pitt.................................................. 8 REAL ESTATE/DESTINATION Ocean House............................................... 30 SPORTS & FITNESS Upper Deck Fitness.........................................7 MISCELLANEOUS Westy Self Storage........................................ 23

postscript

SEPT/OCT 2020 / DONNA MOFFLY

OF KIDS & CANDOR

From Chase: “Dear God: Thank you for giving us the beautiful trees.

It looks very nice.”

PRE-SCHOOL To Frederica McGannon at Bridges Pre-school: “Yesternight when I was going to bed…” and “Hey look, it’s winding outside”. Then from a three-year-old drinking juice boxes on a long drive: “I feel like tape. I’m sticky all over.”

From Liz Hart at Greenwich Country Day: “These are my new blue pants, do you realize them?” And when she asked daughter Lolly how her first day of nursery school went, the little girl replied: “Well, nobody laughed and nobody cried.”

During a discussion about the celebration of Passover, Phoebe Huth raised her hand.

“We celebrate Passover,” she announced. The teacher, who had known the family for years, was taken by surprise. But Phoebe explained: “When Abby’s clothes get too small for her, she passes them over to me; and when they get too small for me, I pass them over to Brecky.”

KINDERGARTEN Cristin Marandino’s six-year-old nephew Ryan got into a scuffle with another boy over the swing set on the school playground. When the teacher sat him down to find out what happened, he walked her through the events very logically, then at the main point, stopped, looked at her and said: “Okay, here’s where it doesn’t look so good for me.”

ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE SCHOOL Sister Carol Ann, director of Villa Maria School in Stamford, was elated when a young man in First Communion class asked her how to spell the stamfordmag.com

92

word “penance.” But her bubble burst when she asked him to use it used it in a sentence and he replied: “The Red Sox won the penance.”

Eight-year-old Miles Patrick McDonald, who was brought into the world through modern technology, was taking religious instruction in preparation for confirmation.

For homework the kids were asked to write a prayer to God. So he wrote: “Dear God: I don’t know who my father is, but please let him go to heaven, whoever he might be—except if he’s Donald Trump.”

An English teacher at Country Day sent our twelve-year-old Audrey home to show us a paper she’d done particularly well on.

Assignment: define words, then use them in sentences. The word “vie” she’d defined as “to worry”. Used in a sentence? “Oy vie!”

SUNDAY SCHOOL Bobbi Eggers asked the Sunday school children at Christ Church to write letters to God, and here are some excerpts: “Dear God, I think it would be a good idea to bring the dinosaurs back. Then there would be no need for ladders.” From Hunter: “God came down from Heaven and He saw my room and He said: ‘Hey. Nice room.’ ” From Brian: “Dear God: How do you think our choir is doing?” From Chase: “Dear God: Thank you for giving us the beautiful trees. It looks very nice.” And from Blake: “Dear God: What does heaven look like and I love you. I think you are old, maybe five or twenty-one.”

Bobbi also shared this year’s list of the “Top 10 Questions Kids Have About God” which includes: “How did God know He was God?” “Why should I pray if God already knows what’s going to happen?” “How can He see everybody all at the same time?” “Why did God make mosquitos?”

All food for thought. We can learn a lot from looking at the world through these fresh young eyes—and have some laughs in the process.

But while we’re at it, let’s remember to give an A+ to their teachers.

VENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY, GREENWICH, CT

I

t’s September and I get to write about kids again. But this time, in honor of our brave educators who have done such an amazing job in their virtual classrooms lately, I’m focusing on comments that our smallest fry have made to their teachers over the years. Some are new, some classics that bear repeating, but all should brighten your day.

Kids do have a way with words.

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