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NOV. 25, 2018, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
Honoring Bklyn’s best men
Borough’s community leaders celebrated at annual Kings of Kings awards
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Brooklyn, meet your new
kings of Kings!
Schneps Community
News Group parent company
Schneps Communications
honored some of
the borough’s best men at
its annual Kings of Kings
County Awards and networking
event at Mill Basin’s
El Caribe Country
Club on Nov. 14.
The honorees recognized
for their community
service included a host of
admirable gentlemen, such
as a New York City football
legend, a World War II
veteran, members of New
York’s Bravest and Finest,
a life-saving neurosurgeon,
local business leaders, and
many more — all of whom
proudly represented their
borough.
The men all share an
unwavering enthusiasm
for what they do, according
to the event’s host.
“These fabulous men
have been so successful
because they have a passion
for what they do. It is
my privilege to recognize
them,” said SCNG President
and Publisher Victoria
Schneps-Yunis.
The 2018 Man of the Year
honors went to New York
Jets veteran and CBS New
York sports analyst Erik
Coleman, who said he was
honored to be in the company
of such distinguished
peers.
“I was really taken aback
to hear that I’d been honored
as the Man of the Year
among all these amazing
men, knowing what they
do in the community,” said
Coleman, who attended the
evening with his wife Sabrina,
a former Bensonhurst
resident. “It’s humbling.”
And this year’s Living
Legend award went to a
veteran and lifelong Brooklynite
of the Greatest Generation,
who served fi ve
tours of duty during World
War II.
“It’s a great honor,”
said Coney Islander Albert
Goldberg, who helped liberate
Europe under General
George Patton when he was
just 21-years-old.
The vet recently celebrated
his 96th birthday,
and had some simple advice
for those looking to
live well into their golden
years.
“You have got to have a
good time, and you have got
to dance,” Goldberg said.
The ceremony also honored
a present-day hero,
who saved a child’s life
when a Bensonhurst building
went up in fl ames last
August. Firefi ghter James
Weinert, the recipient of the
Community Hero award,
said he saved the youngster
while his colleagues pulled
a pregnant woman and another
child out of the blaze
that fateful night.
“When we got to the
door, we heard people
on the other side, so we
forced the door open and
the fi re’s right there,” said
Marine Parker Weinert,
who attended with his wife
Heather. “I found the child
down there and I pulled the
child out.”
And a Boy in Blue who
has patrolled the streets of
Brooklyn for almost four
decades took home the
Community Leadership
award for his work protecting
the community, whose
residents he said inspire
him to put on his uniform
each day.
“I get to help people I
interact with on a daily
basis, it may be a person
I’ve know for 40 years, or
maybe a person I met 10
minutes ago,” said 39-year
Police Department veteran
and Executive Offi cer of
Patrol Borough Brooklyn
South Charles Scholl.
The ceremony also recognized
Dr. Erich Anderer,
chief of neurosurgery at
Sunset Park’s NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn,
who said moving from the
distant isle of Manhattan
to the County of Kings allowed
him to better appreciate
the borough’s diverse
and ever-evolving neighborhoods.
“Some of the other neighborhoods
have changed
so much they almost feel
more like Manhattan, but
I actually love Bay Ridge
because it’s got a lot of old
world Brooklyn, so it still
feels like Brooklyn,” said
Anderer, who lives with
his wife and two children
in Clinton Hill.
The event also held a raffl
e with all proceeds going to
the DSNY Columbia Association,
which helps children
with disabilities.
And, of course, organizers
gave special thanks
to its sponsors: Flushing
Bank, Chase Bank, Ferrantino
Fuel, Investors Bank,
The Run NYC Team, Freedom
Mortgage, Berger, Bischoff,
Shumer, Weller &
Goodman LLP, The Americans
Dreams Foundation,
Medcast Plus, and the
DSNY Columbia Association.
ROYAL FAMILY: (Clockwise from top left) Dimitri Venekas, left, an
associate director of retail sales for CPEX Real Estate who has been
recognized as a rising star in the real-estate business by Real Estate
Weekly, was one of the honorees at this year’s Kings of Kings.
SCNG President and Publisher Victoria Schneps-Yunis, left, presented
the Community Leadership award to 39-year Police Department
veteran and Executive Offi cer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South
Charles Scholl. Dr. Erich Anderer, chief of neurosurgery at Sunset
Park’s NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, was also crowned as one of
this year’s Kings of Kings. Schneps-Yunis, far left, celebrated with
the more than two dozen Kings of Kings honorees during the annual
gala and networking event on Nov. 14 at Mill Basin’s El Caribe.
World War II veteran and Coney Islander Albert Goldberg, 96, was
all smiles after he received this year’s Living Legend award.
Photos by Arthur DeGaeta