board at Block Institute in New York City, a nonprofit agency that seeks to improve the lives of disabled people and their families. He served as a board member, secretary, vice president and, from 2001 to 2003, president, and is still active on the organization’s board. His first attempt at raising money was as a participant in a triathlon in 2004, and he raised $10,000 for the institute. “Through activegiving.com, I created my own sponsorship website and asked the world to sponsor me and donate money,” he explained. “People want to help the people who are doing the heavy lifting. In the beginning, a lot of people would say, ‘I’m on my couch doing nothing and you’re out there running; the least I could do is write you a check.’ But eventually they said, ‘It’s getting expensive to be friends with you!’” Six years ago, Greenbaum was asked to join the Board of Directors of the Peninsula Counseling Center in Valley Stream, where he is now president. “He gives 110 percent of himself in everything he does,” said Audrey Goodman, the PCC’s community relations coordinator, who calls Greenbaum “the marathon man.” He raised $35,000 for the center when he ran the Long Island Marathon. Peninsula Counseling Center is challenged to continue offering services while New York state slashes its annual budgets and restructures Medicaid reimbursements, he said. “While budgets are being squeezed because of the economy, the services are needed now more than ever before,” Greenbaum said. “Fundraising is critical to fill in the shortfall.” Steven Sherman, Greenbaum’s business partner at Rockville Benefit Advisors LLC, in Rockville Centre, and a longtime friend, met Greenbaum at the Lawrence Tennis Club nearly 20 years ago. They ended up working together by accident. “We were having a conversation over a bagel, and I asked, ‘What do you do?’ and he said, ‘Same as you,’” Sherman recalled. “I thought he was an attorney, but he said he was in the insurance business, so I told him maybe we could do something together.” Two weeks later, Greenbaum came to work with Sherman at Wall and William Financial Group in New York City, and eventually the pair opened Rockville Benefit Advisors. “Eighteen years later we’re best of friends and partners,” Sherman said. He added that he admires Greenbaum’s charitable work and his ability to be active around the clock. “He’s got a different time clock from the rest of us because he’s doing work when some of us are still sleeping,” Sherman said. “He’s high-energy, high-motivation and is actively involved while still finding time to go golfing, play tennis and be a good family man.” Greenbaum’s family — daughters Jessica, 25, Jaclyn, 23, Lana, 22, Ivy, 17, and Abigail, 14, and his wife of 19 years, Pam — support him in
PERSON 2 0 11
OF THE YEAR Nassau
HERALD December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
$1.00
YEAR IN REVIEW
Monica Rzewski/Herald
Tropical Storm Irene caused flooding and power outages and toppled trees throughout the Five Towns. Page 15
m u a b n e e r Jay G
‘Marathon man’ runs to raise money for charities
By ANN E. FRIEDMAN afriedman@liherald.com
J
ay Greenbaum, a lifelong Hewlett resident who has raised thousands of dollars for various organizations and programs since the 1990s by competing in marathons and triathlons, is the Herald’s 2011 Person of the Year.
The Lawrence Golden Tornadoes won the Nassau County Conference III football championship and played in a record-setting Long Island Class III title game. Page 24
Greenbaum, 54, has run in the Philadelphia Marathon, in 2006, the Long Island Marathon, in 2010, and the last four New York City Marathons. He runs three or four times a week, takes an indoor cycling class three times a week and swims twice a week. After three of his five daughters took up competitive swimming, he was inspired to adopt a more active lifestyle. The Lawrence Woodmere Academy alumnus began taking part in charitable work in the early 1990s, when he was invited to join the
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