Congratulations on celebrating 100 years of bringing news to the Five Towns and surrounding areas. EHS is grateful for the many milestones you have helped us celebrate over the years, including new buildings and programs that help us bring high-quality, person-centered care to our community. We look forward to seeing what the next century brings!
• General Surgery
• Breast Surgery
• Colon & Rectal Surgery
The Department of Surgery at Episcopal Health Services provides comprehensive surgical care, including many minimally invasive procedures for a wide range of conditions. Our surgical subspecialties include those listed below:
• Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery
• Hand Surgery
• Head & Neck Surgery
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Plastic Surgery
• Reconstructive Breast Surgery
• Sinus Surgery
• Thoracic Surgery
• Urology
• Vascular Surgery
• Wound Care
ur parents, Robert and Edith Richner, bought the Herald in June 1964. Not long after, the paper published a special 40th anniversary edition. We were in grade school and don’t remember much about what was in that issue. But we vividly remember how they made it look special.
They decided to add red stripes to the top and bottom of the front page. Our ancient letterpress, however, printed only in black and white. So they nailed two large red Magic Markers to a wooden milk crate, pressed them against the giant roll of newsprint feeding the press, and — voilà — the first “color” edition of the Herald was born.
We’ve come a long way.
Today, we celebrate 100 years of covering “All the news of the Five Towns” each week.
Why was this small weekly, serving just a sliver of a large county, named the Nassau Herald? Not to suggest grand ambitions across Nassau County, but simply to distinguish it from its sibling paper, the Rockaway Journal, which covered the neighboring Rockaway peninsula in Queens.
In fact, the paper began in the 1920s as the Rockaway Branch Journal, named for the Long Island Rail Road branch that connected Hewlett, Woodmere, Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Inwood to Far Rockaway. Locals called the area “The Branch” — what we now know as the Five Towns. In the early 1930s, readers chose the name “Nassau Herald” in a contest.
Much has changed since then. One thing has not: the Nassau Herald remains laser-focused on this community and the people who live here.
Today, the Herald is more than a newspaper. We deliver news online, by email and through social media — as well as in print, arriving in your mailbox each week.
We believe that publishing a newspaper is more than a business; it is a public trust.
The Founding Fathers singled out the press as the only private enterprise protected by the Constitution. They understood that democracy depends on citizens having access to accurate, fair and honest information. For more than 60 years, our family has taken that responsibility seriously and worked every day to uphold it.
That is why we cover school board meetings, village and town halls and Nassau County
government — so you can stay informed and participate fully in civic life.
We also cover the moments that define a community: graduations, school plays, fairs, concerts and the life of our local religious congregations. We record the milestones — large and small — that matter to our readers. Over the years, many have told us about the articles they clipped for the refrigerator or saved in scrapbooks.
When major events unfold at our doorstep, the Herald is there. After 9/11, our reporters worked tirelessly to document every Five Towner lost in the attacks. For months, we covered funerals and memorials, telling the stories of lives cut short and the legacies they left behind. Each Sept. 11, we continue to print their names and photographs — and we will do so again this year on the 25th anniversary.
When Superstorm Sandy struck Long Island in 2012, our reporters were out covering its impact before the storm had even passed. In the months and years that followed, we documented the long recovery as neighbors rebuilt their homes and their lives.
None of this happens without our talented staff, who rise to the challenge week after week. We are equally grateful to our advertisers, whose support helps us keep our lights on and our presses running.
Most of all, we thank you — our readers — for a century of trust.
The people who founded the Herald 100 years ago could not have imagined the world we live in today, just as we cannot possibly know what the next 100 years will bring. But one thing remains constant: people want to know what is happening in their communities.
As long as that is true, the Herald will be here, in some shape or form — bringing you “All the news of the Five Towns.”
Enjoy this special issue, and happy 100th anniversary to us all.
With gratitude,
Clifford Richner, Publisher Emeritus Stuart Richner, Publisher
Senior Reporter
Melissa Berman Publisher
Stuart Richner
Vice President of Sales
Rhonda Glickman
Managing Editor Jeffrey Bessen
Deputy Managing Editor
Jordan Vallone
Features/
Special Sections Editor Karen Bloom
Multi Media
Marketing Consultant Lori Harwitt
Creative Director Designer Jeffrey Negrin
Index
Elected officials 4-13
Library officials 15
Civic leaders 16-21
Herald editors 23-29
School leaders 31, 41 Historical timeline 32-40
Fire Department officials 42-44
Hewlett House 46
Readers reflect 48-62
Bruce Blakeman County Executive Nassau County
On behalf of the residents of Nassau County and as County Executive, I want to congratulate the Nassau Herald as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. This centennial milestone encapsulates this publication’s long-standing and unwavering commitment to serving our communities.
For a century, the Nassau Herald has acted as a trusted voice for our residents. It has captured our triumphs and chronicled our growth into the safest county in the United States and the best place to live in all of New York. Through changing times and across generations, its reporting has provided our entire region with news and analysis to help people stay informed and engaged with important local issues.
Through changing times and across generations, ... reporting has provided our entire region with news and analysis to help people stay informed and engaged with important local issues.
Today’s media landscape is becoming increasingly digital, making it more accessible than ever before. However, increased access to information has also come at a cost. People searching for grounded, truthful coverage now needs to wade through a sea of misinformation and computer-generated fake news that is undermining our democracy and freedoms.
These conditions have made it even more important to have reliable and trustworthy local journalists who are connected to the neighborhoods, people and events they report on. At a time when knowing and trusting your information source has never been more important, professionals like those at the Nassau Herald continue to serve our communities through fair and balanced reporting. Their hard work is invaluable and cannot be duplicated by an algorithm.
Of course, reliable local news coverage isn’t just important for our residents; it’s also an essential resource for government officials, keeping us informed and accountable to the people we serve. Local reporters help identify issues that deserve attention and provide a direct channel for people to make their voices heard. Whether it’s coverage of municipal meetings, breaking down the language of a new law, or interviewing residents about the issues that matter most to them, the feedback government officials get from publications like the Nassau Herald give us insight into what we’re doing well and can reveal places where more work needs to be done. Our goal is always to serve our constituents to the best of our ability, and local news outlets help us achieve that.
Once again, thank you to the Nassau Herald for serving Nassau County and the larger Long Island region with integrity. We are proud to count you among our most valued institutions. May the next 100 years bring you continued growth and success.
John Ferretti Supervisor Town of Hempstead
Throughout my years growing up on Long Island and working as a public servant, the Nassau Herald has been more than a newspaper — it has been a steady companion to our community. This paper has chronicled the milestones, challenges and celebrations we’ve had throughout the entirety of Hempstead Town. Being a part of a community means sharing a story, and the Nassau Herald has helped share ours.
One moment that stands out to me particularly came very recently at my inauguration as Hempstead Town Supervisor. I stood at the podium inside Division Avenue High School — my alma mater — and it was emotional in ways I didn’t anticipate. That building helped shape who I am today, teaching me the values of hard work, responsibility and service. Seeing the Herald there that day and reading their coverage of the event felt symbolic. The paper that has followed our community’s journey for years was there to document the moment when my own story came full circle. The Nassau Herald reminds us all that achievements are rooted in the places and people who raised us. Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how this publication shows up for the community. Whether it’s a young up-andcoming reporter or a triedand-true veteran of journalism, this paper covers stories of all types — not just elections and ribbon cuttings. It homes in on quieter stories that truly define a community. These stories matter greatly, and they demonstrate that progress is earmarked by the residents.
The Nassau Herald has taught me the value of listening. Communities grow stronger when voices are heard and respected, even when opinions differ.
The Nassau Herald has taught me the value of listening. Communities grow stronger when voices are heard and respected, even when opinions differ. The Herald has always provided a forum for dialogue — giving a voice to each neighborhood and sharing a unique story from a variety of different residents. It has helped ensure that our future is built on transparency and trust.
As we look ahead, I am certain that our best days are still in front of us. Long Island and the Town of Hempstead continue to evolve, just as the needs and dreams of the people who call this place home evolve as well. We move forward together, grounded in our shared history and guided by a commitment to one another. I am grateful to the Nassau Herald for being a constant presence on this journey, and I look forward to growing, reflecting and building a strong future for generations to come.
Laura Gillen U.S. Congresswoman
For 100 years, the Nassau Herald and its sister publications have been more than a collection of local stories and events.
They have been a cornerstone of our communities and a thread connecting generations of Long Islanders to one shared history.
This newspaper has embodied the resilience and growth of Nassau County over the last century, and I’m proud to celebrate this milestone with you.
From highlighting our local heroes, parades, graduations, championship wins, funeral services, and everything in between,
the Nassau Herald has been rooted in building community. Your commitment to covering news that would otherwise be neglected has mattered most of all. These stories have bonded us with our neighbors and chronicled our common story.
This paper has done more than celebrate and lift up our neighbors. It has also been a watchdog, with a sharp eye for the truth, exposing corruption and fraud in our government. When elected officials deal in the dark, abusing the publics trust and tax dollars, the Nassau Herald has been a light, holding those in power accountable.
Unfortunately, other local papers of this caliber across the country have struggled to stay in print. The newspaper industry has faced a pivotal period of immense financial distress. Small community outlets have shuttered in record numbers in the past 20 years, leaving local governments, boards, and businesses to act without coverage or
accountability. It has become all too common that the most trusted and often sole local news source in small towns or cities has simply disappeared. And in its place, residents are forced to sift through misinformation, inaccurate reporting, and news that is not rooted in the future and health of their region.
The Nassau Herald has thrived despite these troubling trends. We are fortunate to have many dedicated journalists and publications, online and in print, on Long Island. We have the privilege of living in one of the largest news media markets in the world, and the Nassau Herald has distinguished itself through an unwavering dedication to our communities, truth and significance of the every day.
Congratulations to the Nassau Herald on this rare and monumental achievement of 100 years in print.
May your contributions and service endure for a hundred more.
I extend my sincere congratulations to the Nassau Herald on the occasion of its 100th Anniversary. For a century, the Nassau Herald has been a trusted voice in our community, highlighting local stories, celebrating our neighborhoods, and keeping residents informed and connected. Strong local journalism builds strong communities. By keeping residents engaged and proud of best place to live in New York State. Congratulations on this extraordinary milestone, and best wishes for continued success in the years ahead. residents and proud of where they live, the Nassau Herald has played an important role in helping make Nassau County the b l li i k S
The day the Nassau Herald burned
Nearly 22 years ago, a massive fire destroyed the Nassau Herald newspaper office and printing plant in Lawrence, collapsing the roof and burning for several hours. The blaze broke out on June 15, 2004, at the Richner Communications building on Central Avenue. Officials said the fire began around 3:20 p.m. in the printing room.
Firefighters from ten Nassau County departments responded and worked for hours to bring the fire under control. No civilians were injured, though four firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion.
The dramatic blaze drew widespread media attention at the time, with regional and national outlets, including The New York Times (see story to left), reporting on the destruction of the longtime newspaper office and printing facility.
The building was heavily damaged, forcing the publication to relocate its operations, initially to West Hempstead. Richner Communications, which publishes the Herald newspapers, is now headquartered in Garden City.
Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick Senator New York State
Community journalism is the backbone of our neighborhoods. It gives residents a voice, takes a closer look at local issues affecting our daily lives, and highlights the individual and personal achievements that would otherwise go unnoticed. For the past 100 years, the Nassau Herald has done exactly that.
Reaching a 100-year milestone is an extraordinary achievement and a testament to decades of hard work and trusted community journalism. It reflects a long-standing commitment to accurate reporting, meaningful engagement and service to readers. Very few institutions remain strong and relevant for a full century. The Nassau Herald has done so by earning the community’s trust year after year.
Throughout my time in office, the Nassau Herald has been an invaluable partner, not only as a reliable source of local news, but as a resource for residents seeking to stay informed about what is happening in their communities. Just as importantly, the Herald consistently shines a light on neighbors, students and community leaders whose efforts deserve recognition.
The Five Towns is a large and diverse area, home to residents of many different backgrounds, cultures and faiths. The Nassau Herald has done an excellent job reflecting that diversity and ensuring all voices are represented. Covering the villages of Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Atlantic Beach, Woodsburgh, Hewlett Harbor, and Hewlett Neck, along with the communities of Inwood, Woodmere and Hewlett, is no small task. Yet the Herald continues to stay focused on the issues that matter most to local residents.
As a New York State Senator, my role is to stay closely connected to the communities I represent and to be present where local decisions, milestones and challenges are unfolding. The Nassau Herald shares that commitment. Year after year, it covers village meetings, school events and ribbon cuttings, helping ensure the stories that shape our communities are documented and shared.
The paper’s ability to cover both major issues and everyday moments is what sets it apart as one of Long Island’s longeststanding community newspapers. It has been a pleasure to serve our community alongside the Nassau Herald during my tenure. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of this newspaper’s journey over the past century. Best wishes for continued success in the years ahead.
Assemblyman, New York State Deputy Mayor, Village of Cedarhurst and liaison to the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District
As a New York State Assemblyman, deputy mayor of the Incorporated Village of Cedarhurst, and the Village Board’s representative to the Business Improvement District since 1998, I am honored to reflect on the meaningful role this newspaper has played in our community’s history.
For a century, the Nassau Herald has served as a reliable source of local news, covering the people, events, and businesses that define the Five Towns and Nassau County’s south shore. The Herald began publishing in 1924 and has remained committed to reporting stories that matter most to our neighbors and local stakeholders. It has kept residents informed on Village Board actions, community programs, school events, business openings, and seasonal celebrations, helping knit together a shared sense of community across generations.
Over the decades, the paper has chronicled Cedarhurst’s evolution — from its vibrant local business district to its position as a destination for families, shops, and entrepreneurs. The Herald’s coverage has documented not only municipal developments, but also the personal stories and milestones that reflect the heart of our village life.
Today, the Nassau Herald is part of Herald Community Newspapers, under the ownership of Richner Communications, a Long Island-based media company founded in 1964 and now in its second generation of family leadership. The Richner family’s dedication to community journalism and hands-on commitment to quality reporting has helped ensure that local news continues to have a meaningful voice across Nassau County.
My work with the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District has given me a unique perspective on how important local media coverage can be in supporting small businesses, promoting community events, and strengthening partnerships between local government and residents. The Herald has not just reported our story — it has been a trusted partner in promoting civic pride and local economic vitality.
Congratulations to the Nassau Herald on 100 years of service, and thank you for your continued dedication to community reporting.
Barry Freedberg - Chairman
Robert Wengrofsky - President
Jeff Beja - Vice President
Bob Block - Secretary
Pamela Berger - Treasurer
Alex Beja - Board Member
Louise Kramer - Board Member
Steven Silverman - Board Member
Ari Brown - Village Representative
Pamela Berger - Executive Director Cedarhurst - The Village for Shopping. Discover exceptional shopping, dining and professional services. www.shopcedarhurst.com
Barry Frohlinger Mayor Village of Atlantic Beach
Having now traveled to all 50 states — a quest I completed on Jan. 6, 2026, and which spanned decades of both personal travel and work assignments — I have returned home to the Village of Atlantic Beach with a profoundly clarified perspective. This milestone, coupled with having worked in dozens of countries across six continents, has only deepened my understanding of what makes a place truly special. With each new state checked off my list, I found myself quietly comparing the spirit of each place to the singular feeling I get when I cross the bridge back to the Village of Atlantic Beach. Crossing the bridge, I feel the gust of wind, smell salt, and then the sight of the ocean just past rooftops nestled among the trees as the light becomes sharper, refracted off the water.
That understanding was first kindled here, in Atlantic Beach, years ago. After visiting friends here for many years and then renting one of the village’s early homes, envisioned a century ago on modest 48’ by 88’ foot lots by the village founders, my wife and I decided to move to Atlantic Beach as our permanent home, on a full time basis.
This year honors not only a century of our village, but also a century of the Nassau Herald — a newspaper whose professional reporters have dedicated themselves to chronicling every aspect of our community.
On our first night as residents, during an evening stroll on the boardwalk, a stranger called out, inviting us to dinner and game night. That spontaneous gesture was a bolt of warmth, an unexpected welcome that led to another dinner invitation, and then another, beginning a tradition of reciprocity that defined our new life.
Now, five months into serving as mayor, it is my profound intention to honor the legacy begun here 100 years ago by Stephen Pettit, William Austin, and Charles Talbot, Jr., who envisioned this chosen sanctuary — a rhythm of life shaped by the tide and the boardwalk.
The village today stands as a testament to their foresight. This year honors not only a century of our village, but also a century of the Nassau Herald — a newspaper whose professional reporters have dedicated themselves to chronicling every aspect of our community. Through their presence at our monthly village meetings and their in-depth reporting, they have helped define the cherished place we call home. To ascend to the office of mayor at this pivotal moment is a privilege that rests on the strong foundation they have so faithfully documented.
This board, and all future boards, are entrusted with the solemn duty to preserve and enhance this legacy for the next century, ensuring the rhythm of the waves, the warmth of our community, the beauty of our beaches and our serene atmosphere remain the enduring heart of Atlantic Beach.
This village is more than a point on a map; it is, unmistakably, where I belong. I can say with certainty that this is where my heart resides.
Benjamin Weinstock Mayor Village of Cedarhurst
On behalf of the Village of Cedarhurst, we extend our deepest gratitude and heartfelt congratulations to the Nassau Herald on this remarkable milestone — 100 years of dedicated service to our community.
For a century, the Nassau Herald has been far more than a newspaper. It has been the voice of our village, faithfully chronicling the stories, struggles, triumphs, and everyday moments that define who we are as a community.
Through decades of change, the Herald has remained a constant and trusted presence, connecting neighbors, amplifying local voices, and holding a mirror up to the best of what Cedarhurst has to offer.
We are proud to have such a dedicated partner in telling the story of our village.
Your commitment to honest, community-focused journalism is a gift that cannot be overstated. We are proud to have such a dedicated partner in telling the story of our village.
The Nassau Herald means a great deal to our village because it is consistently there to cover the moments that shape us, whether it is big or small.
From board meetings and public hearings to community events and local achievements, they make sure our residents know what’s happening and why it matters. Their coverage helps keep our government transparent and our neighbors informed, but it also captures the spirit of Cedarhurst by highlighting the people and events that define who we are.
Every year, the Herald sends a photographer to the Memorial Day parade along with covering the annual 9/11-remembrance ceremony and board elections.
The paper also features the Sidewalk Sale, Midnight Madness and the Summer Concert Series in Andrew J. Parise Park.
In many ways, the Herald keeps us all connected, providing residents with a reliable source of local news they can trust each week.
Here’s to 100 more years of excellence. Congratulations, Nassau Herald!
On this momentous occasion, the Village of Atlantic Beach extends its
on your centennial. It is a distinct honor to celebrate our 100th Anniversary concurrently with yours. We wish to recognize and thank your reporters specifically for their steadfast commitment to documenting our community's narrative with integrity. We are grateful for a century of trusted storytelling and for the invaluable partnership we have shared.
Barry M. Frohlinger Mayor
Joseph B. Pierantoni
Deputy Mayor
Laura Heller Trustee
Douglas Garczynski Trustee
Peter Millius Trustee
The Village of Lawrence proudly congratulates The Nassau Herald on its 100th anniversary.
As our Village prepares to celebrate our own 130 th anniversary, we recognize the Herald’s century long commitment to informing our community and strengthening civic engagement.
trusted the Nassau Herald as a reliable source of
Wishing the Nassau Herald continued success for years to come.
Mayor Samuel (Shlomo) Nahmias
Deputy Mayor Aaron Felder
Trustee Tammy Roz
Trustee Aaron Parnes
Congratulates the Nassau Herald for 100 years of keeping the Five Towns informed & updated on local news.
Reo, President • Michael Gliner, Board Chairman and Members
I join so many Long Islanders in congratulating the NASSAU HERALD on its I am proud and privileged to be affiliated with such a great community newspaper.
Dominic Calandrella Mayor Village of Hewlett Harbor
It is my distinct pleasure to recognize and celebrate the anniversary of the Nassau Herald, a publication that has stood as a cornerstone of the Five Towns for 100 years. For a full century, the Herald has faithfully chronicled the life, growth and spirit of our community preserving the stories that define who we are and where we come from.
Through its pages, generations of readers have come to know both the prominent figures and the everyday residents whose dedication, perseverance and vision helped shape the Five Towns into the vibrant and close-knit community it is today. The Nassau Herald has not merely reported history; it has written the living legacy of our people, capturing moments both large and small that together tell the story of our shared home.
The Five Towns remain a diverse, resilient and dynamic place to live, one where tradition and progress walk hand in hand.
The unique character of the South Shore is deeply personal to me. I have been proud to call this area home for 57 years, having lived in Inwood, Woodmere, Hewlett, and most recently, Hewlett Harbor. These communities are more than places on a map they are neighborhoods filled with character, tradition and a strong sense of belonging. Through my business, Bodyworks Collision, which has proudly served the community since 2000, along with other business endeavors, I have been fortunate to grow and thrive here alongside my wife, Florence, of 28 years, and with our son, Dom Jr. With extended family close by and friendships formed over a lifetime, our roots here run deep, and our connection to this place continues to grow.
Giving back to this remarkable community has been one of the great honors of my life. As mayor of Hewlett Harbor, I am privileged to serve a village that recently celebrated its own centennial — a powerful reminder of how deeply we value our history and the responsibility we share to protect what makes this place so special.
As we reflect on the past century, we do so with gratitude and pride, while looking ahead with optimism. The Five Towns remain a diverse, resilient and dynamic place to live, one where tradition and progress walk hand in hand.
For 100 years, the Nassau Herald has been far more than a newspaper. It has been a trusted voice, a keeper of our history, and a vital thread in the fabric of the Five Towns. May it continue to inform, inspire and unite our community for generations to come.
Samuel Nahmias Mayor Village of Lawrence
Being part of the Five Towns is not just a saying — it is a feeling, a responsibility, and a deep sense of belonging. It is something you carry with you long after you leave the main streets and familiar storefronts. For those of us who grew up here, raised families here, or built our lives here, the Five Towns is not simply where we live. It is who we are.
The Five Towns is where our children make lifelong friends — friendships that begin on playgrounds, continue through classrooms and synagogues, and often last well into adulthood. It is where we eat together, pray together, celebrate milestones together, and mourn together. It is where our children not only meet their classmates, but also in many cases, meet their future. There is something rare and powerful about that continuity, about watching generations grow up on the same blocks and within the same-shared community fabric.
One of the things that make the Five Towns so unique is its vibrancy. With nearly 80 food establishments serving thousands of residents, the area reflects a remarkable blend of tradition and modern life. Kosher bakeries, pizza shops, sitdown restaurants, and takeout spots are not just places to eat—they are gathering spaces. They are where conversations happen, where ideas are exchanged, and where community bonds are strengthened over a shared meal.
There is something rare and powerful about ... continuity, about watching generations grow up on the same blocks and within the same-shared community fabric.
Lawrence, in particular, holds a special place in the story of the Five Towns. As the first village to incorporate roughly 128 years ago, Lawrence helped shape the identity of the entire area. You cannot speak about the Five Towns without mentioning Lawrence — its history, its resilience, and its role as a cornerstone of the community. The streets of Lawrence tell a story of growth, change, and continuity, all happening side by side.
My experience with the Nassau Herald has only deepened my appreciation for this community. Local journalism matters here because people care — about schools, safety, faith, development, and one another. The Herald captures not just headlines, but the heartbeat of the Five Towns, preserving moments that might otherwise be forgotten.
At its core, the Five Towns is about shared values: family, faith, community, and responsibility to one another. It is not perfect, but it is ours. And that sense of ownership, pride, and connection is what makes being part of the Five Towns more than a phrase — it makes it a way of life.
Akiva Lubin President, Board of Trustees Peninsula Public Library
The Nassau Herald has been a cornerstone of our community for generations. For 100 years, it has chronicled the stories, milestones, and events that shape life in the Five Towns and beyond, keeping neighbors informed and connected.
One of the greatest gifts of a local newspaper is its ability to celebrate the accomplishments and moments that matter most in our community, and
the Herald has done so with dedication and care.
It has been a pleasure working with the Herald’s editorial staff to highlight the programs and celebrations at the Peninsula Public Library, where we proudly serve on the Board. Their commitment to sharing the life of our community is truly invaluable.
The Herald’s team brings professionalism, warmth and dedication to everything they
Michelle Young Director, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library
Ifirst met the Five Towns community at Arts Below Sunrise in May 2023, which was held the same week that I became the new library director of the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library — and I have embraced and been welcomed by this bustling, lively community ever since.
My first experience with the Nassau Herald came three weeks later, when a reporter interviewed me for a profile story. It was the first time, probably in my life, where a story about my career and achievements appeared in a newspaper —and on the front page no less!
Before I became a library director (or even a librarian), my first passion was writing. When I was a young high school student, I interned as a writer at the Merrick Herald, covering sporting events at my high school in the Bellmore-Merrick School District. While I changed the direction of my career after college, my passion for writing and for writers has never stopped. I enjoy and appreciate a great story (after all, I am a librarian!) but I also enjoy working closely with reporters and supporting them in everything they do. I will always remember, first-hand, how challenging it is
... the Nassau Herald has reminded longtime residents and introduced new residents to many of our programs and services.
do, making it a pleasure to work together over the years. We are truly grateful for their partnership and for the important role they play in enriching our community.
Congratulations on this remarkable milestone! Thank you for a century of outstanding local journalism -— here’s to your remarkable legacy and many more successful years ahead!
to cover a live, action-packed event and then write a great, compelling article about it.
The library and the Herald are both cornerstones of the Five Towns, and the Herald has thoughtfully covered many events at the library, reinforcing our value to the community. In the past three years, the Herald covered our first outdoors “open mic” poetry night in our spruced-up courtyard, and has run many stories highlighting our close and growing community partnerships with talented local groups such as the United Choral Society and the new Cognitive Film Society.
Throughout all its reporting on HWPL, the Nassau Herald has reminded long-time residents and introduced new residents to many of our programs and services. Thank you for including us in this special edition of the Herald; it is our pleasure and honor to be a part of it and we look forward to continue working together, covering the best that the library has to offer in the beautiful community that it serves.
— Ernest Hemingway
David Friedman President Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association
Congratulations to the Nassau Herald, t he Richner family and staff on their 100th anniversary.
My family and our business have been lifelong subscribers of the Nassau Herald. Our businesses and local non-profit organizations are all very involved with the paper.
The paper has covered our community events, Memorial Day parades, Christmas and Hanukkah lightings, Veterans events, dozens of ribbon cuttings, school celebrations, and news stories.
I remember the original office on Central Avenue in Lawrence where I used to go visit Bob and Edith Richner decades ago. As Stuart and
Cliff took over the business they built it up by acquiring papers all across Long Island.
I used to meet Luda, who had a great sense of humor, in town at various businesses; this is something we’ve continued all of these years with Lori Harwitt when a new business is about to open up in the community. We go down and contact them about advertising, promoting their business and scheduling a ribbon cutting for the paper to cover and promote.
Every time there’s an event going on, we call the Nassau Herald for the coverage.
The paper has covered the open meetings we host every year for the Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association. They always have a reporter who takes photos and writes a good story.
Many students from the Hewlett-Woodmere school district have been reporters or interned for the Nassau Herald and represented their hometown.
It’s always fun to contribute photos to the Herald and see the coverage of special events such as Arts Below Sunrise and the HewlettLawrence Soccer Club alumni game and summer
beach party.
There are so many great memories over the years and we appreciate all the hard work the Nassau Herald does.
The fact that the Herald has moved forward with technology and publishes online issues helps our local businesses with electronic advertising. It also keeps our residents who move out of state in-touch with what’s going on in the community.
We work very closely with the Nassau Herald on the annual Five Towns Guide. It is not only a great guide for existing residents, but it’s given out by the real estate brokers to people who are moving into the neighborhood. It’s a great resource for new residents of our area so they know where to find doctors, restaurants, school district information and important contact information.
My favorite memory of being in the paper was when I was named “Mayor” of HewlettWoodmere in 2018.
It’s a huge milestone to celebrate 100 years. How many businesses can say they’re having a 100th anniversary?
Amy Vacchio Director Rock Hall Museum
Iam proud to say I grew up in the Five Towns! My parents were immigrants who found a community in the Five Towns, as many still do. Graduating from the Lawrence school district with a preeminent education, I frequented the RKO Movie theatre and spent weekends roaming Central Avenue, Bay Harbor Mall and Falcaro’s. Then to Sherwood Diner or Friendly’s to refuel.
Summers at the beach or North Woodmere pools, and winters on the rink at Grant Park. Each fall, my family would attend the Rock Hall Country Fair. I didn’t know then that I would pursue an education in history and art history and organize that same fair one day while educating countless students and patrons on American, local and Long Island History.
Growing up in this area, everyone looked to the Nassau Herald for all the happenings. Events, marriages, obituaries and even the classifieds were read over each week with interest. It was a big source of pride to be featured in the paper.
One of my first tasks as a Hofstra University college intern at Rock Hall was to catalogue the museum’s history, beginning when the Hewlett family deeded the home and property to the Town of Hempstead in 1948. I scanned countless articles about fundraisers, programs, renovations, and restorations that the Herald had featured over the decades. In a time before social media, and digitization, these articles and pictures are important resources, a time capsule to the museum’s history and that of the Five Towns. As a historian, newspapers are an essential piece to discovering our past.
Today it is still exciting to be featured in the Nassau Herald. The online articles available make the paper even more accessible. Over the years it has been a pleasure to work with editors, reporters and photographers.
The Nassau Herald is still a household name and synonymous with the Five Towns. If it is important, that is where one will find it! As director of Town of Hempstead Rock Hall Museum, I look forward to bringing more exciting events and educational resources and opportunities to the Five Towns community and the Town of Hempstead.
Bob Block
Former Executive Director Five Towns Community Chest
Over 60 years ago Edith and Robert Richner invested in two local weekly newspapers with the mission of creating papers that not only reported local news but also became institutions within the communities in which they served. They, along with Cliff and Stuart, became involved in various community events within the regions in which they expanded.
I witnessed this firsthand as I worked closely with them and their staff during my over three-decade tenure at Community Chest. Their support went way beyond the financial sponsorships as they often joined our committees and offered advice that was second to none. As a local merchant they often helped me create an advertising program to help boost our new retail business. I thought I was special until I found that they advised all of their clients with the same spirit of success.
The Nassau Herald and their collection of community papers across our county not only report the news, but they also often help to create the news as they support each community with their generosity. They truly define “Giving Back to Community.” Edith, Robert, Cliff and Stuart should be very proud of the family legacy their printing press produced.
It’s a huge milestone to celebrate 100 years. How many businesses can say they’re having a 100th anniversary?
Cal Nathan President Community Chest South Shore
For one hundred years, the Nassau Herald has been more than a newspaper to me — it has been the connective tissue of our community.
As president of the Community Chest, I’ve seen firsthand how local stories shape local action. The Herald doesn’t just report on events; it elevates the people and causes that give the Five Towns its character. Time and again, its pages have helped turn awareness into engagement and impact. When our community comes together, the Herald is often the thread that binds us.
Being named Person of the Year in 2022 was a profound honor, not simply as personal recognition, but as affirmation of the work we do collectively. The Herald has a rare ability to celebrate service without spectacle, to recognize effort while keeping the focus on community.
Perhaps most meaningful to me is that this relationship spans generations. Today, my daughter writes for the Herald, lending her own voice to the ongoing story of our community. Watching her contribute to the same paper that has chronicled our towns for a century is a powerful reminder that local journalism is not just about preserving history, but about shaping the future.
The Nassau Herald has been, and continues to be, a trusted witness to our shared life. For that, I am deeply grateful — and proud to be part of its story.
Congratulations to the Nassau Herald as they celebrate their Centennial.
Inwood Civic Association is always grateful for the coverage and support we receive from the Nassau Herald on our Annual Citizen of the Year Dinner. Throughout the years of the Inwood Civic Association, there has always been a representative from the Herald at our events and we appreciate the support. We’ve established a wonderful working relationship between the Board Members and membership of our association and the Herald. The Nassau Herald has been an icon in the community for 100 years and that’s very special.
Here’s to another 100 years of success!
Congratulations again!
Michael Gliner, Board Chair
Rosemarie Reo, President
David Hance, Past President
Kathy Menella, Treasurer
Lori Walls-Hill, Secretary
Barry DeGroot, Sgt at Arms
Trustees:
Sheldon Soloway
Sofia Fuentes
Mia Mendoza
Marc Bodner Co-founder Israel Chesed Center
Ihave lived in the Five Towns since 1978. It was a very different place back then!
As a kid, I always looked forward to reading the Nassau Herald. It was how I found out what was going on outside my immediate circle. Who was doing what. What was happening. What mattered in the broader community.
I went to Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and later Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway and played on the basketball and hockey teams, but I was always interested in how the local public school sports teams were doing. Lawrence High School, Hewlett High — especially football, which was not a Yeshiva League sport! The Herald covered all of it. It gave us a sense that the Five Towns weren’t just a collection of geographically close neighborhoods — it was one larger community.
Over the years, I have moved away many times — to New York City, London and Israel. Each place was different. And somehow, I always ended up back in the Five Towns. The community has changed a lot over the past 47 years. Demographically. Culturally. Economically. The Five Towns today is not the Five Towns of 1978 — but there’s still a shared identity here. And yes, I still hope our local teams win!
The Nassau Herald has changed too, but its role has stayed largely the same. It reflects what’s happening locally. It records what people are doing. It shows what the community cares about at a given moment. That matters more than people sometimes realize, especially in an era where so much news feels distant or disconnected from daily life.
In recent years, my connection to the Herald has shifted. As a co-founder of the Israel Chesed Center, it’s been meaningful to see our work covered in its pages. Seeing our volunteers, our events and our neighbors in print reinforces that what happens locally still counts.
Last year, my partner Jeff Eisenberg and I were named People of the Year by the Nassau Herald. It was an honor, especially coming from a paper that has been part of my life since childhood.
For 100 years, the Nassau Herald has documented the everyday life of the Five Towns. That continuity matters. Communities change. People come and go. Having a local paper that stays, pays attention and tells the story is something worth celebrating.
Marianela
What does the Nassau Herald mean to me? It means community, the stories of the people that are around us daily and whose lives we see on paper. Whether pictures of the Memorial Day Parade, the school happenings, school sports and the question of the week.
As soon as I get the paper, I put everything else down and read it thoroughly. I always look to find if I know anyone. In the last year having some pictures of me in the Herald has been quite interesting because people who read the Herald are quick to send a text and picture of the paper.
For 100 years this newspaper has been a steady and trusted witness to the life of our community.
Stacey Feldman Executive director of the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC
For generations the Nassau Herald, and their wonderful team of writers and editors, has been reporting on our community celebrations, our commemorations, highlighting our local heroes and recognizing the incredible residents who are no longer with us. They tell the heartfelt stories and alert us to the pressing issues of our vibrant community each and every week.
I’m very proud to say that I was born in St. John’s Hospital, although back then it was St.
Joseph’s. Before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 8 with my family, I have wonderful memories of living in Far Rockaway. My favorites are from spending time with my grandparents who remained in Far Rockaway for many years before joining us in Los Angeles. I remember having ice cream at Friendly’s, summers at the beach, shopping on Central Avenue and visiting my grandma while she was at work at Elsie Maslow’s Florist. I can still hear the ticking of the clock, feel the softness of the quilt and smell the aromas from their kitchen. I loved sleeping over.
We are beyond excited to be working with Nassau County to build a community campus, which will be home to a brand-new fullservice Gural JCC.
Connecting people to information and to one another is foundational to a healthy, engaged community.
Over the years NCJW Peninsula Section has been fortunate to be a part of the stories you have told. You have helped shine the light on issues that matter, elevated community voices and ensured important conversations reach far beyond our membership and our events. Connecting people to information and to one another is foundational to a healthy, engaged community.
From our organization’s perspective, your role has been invaluable. The Nassau Herald has helped bring visibility to important NCJW goals such as protecting and promoting the vote, ensuring courts matter, expanding women’s rights, and mobilizing women and girls in Israel.
As NCJW Peninsula section turns 90 this year, we look forward to many more years of stories still to be told and to continuing to build a more informed, compassionate and connected future together.
After meeting my husband at my cousin’s bar mitzvah in Brooklyn, I returned to New York. You can imagine my delight while working for UJA Federation; they assigned me to the Five Towns. It was such an incredible feeling to connect with my roots and those beautiful memories from my childhood. When I left UJA to start a family, I began volunteering at the Gural JCC, known then as the JCC of the Greater Five Towns. What began as volunteering to keep me connected to a community I loved, soon became a career to which I am still enamored with.
I am so proud of our staff that work tirelessly addressing the ever evolving needs of community members and our Board of Directors who ensure no need goes unmet. The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC has been serving the Five Towns since 1981 with a variety of programs and services for all ages and abilities. We are beyond excited to be working with Nassau County to build a community campus, which will be home to a brand-new full-service Gural JCC along with the Police Activities League and other community organizations.
On behalf of the board and staff of the Marion & Aaron Gural JCC, I would like to congratulate the Nassau Herald for being a special part of our community for the past 100 years. We salute you and are looking forward to the next 100!
Syd Mandelbaum Founder-CEO Rock and Wrap It Up
Living in the Five Towns for 47 years has been a gift. In 1979, we were living in Deerfield, Ill. when my company, Baxter Travenol, asked me to relocate to manage the East Coast for them. We needed to live near an airport. My wife Diane came East with our two young daughters to look for a place. She scoured Rockville Centre, Hewlett, Woodmere, Lynbrook, Cedarhurst, and Lawrence. She said she liked a house in Cedarhurst on Oceanpoint Ave. It was large and we knew we wanted more children. She then said that New York Knicks legendary Coach Red Holzman lived across the street. I immediately said to buy the house. She said you have not seen it. I retorted, “If the block is good for Red, It is good for me.” We bought it.
Over the years Red was an important influence in our lives. When we started the Sid Tanenbaum Basketball Foundation and Tournament, Red asked Walt Frazier to be our first keynote speaker at North Woodmere Park. He invited Diane and me to his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1985. His wife Selma asked me to take family photos and got me an access pass. That experience became the heart of my book “Hoops: A Sobriquet to Basketball”. We still give our basketball scholarships to Lawrence High School and Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway seniors.
In 1981 I accompanied my father Joseph to first World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. It was held in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall. Many of our relatives in both the U.S. and Israel attended. I met and became friends with a writer, Elie Wiesel. At the Wall, the first night of the opening event, my father and I had an epiphany. Something holy passed between us and we did not speak for five minutes. My father asked if I felt it. I said yes and I need to go back to America and change the world. He said he felt the same calling.
I returned and formed Second Generation of Long Island, children of Holocaust survivors. We met at Young Israel of Woodmere. I was already helping to produce medical documentaries for Baxter. We had a new drug, Synthroid,
which we were introducing to doctors, for thyroid replacement therapy. Having a local endocrinologist speak on film at grand rounds was a very effective way to get doctors to convert from Armour thyroid, the current therapy.
I wanted to record survivors of the Holocaust and Camp Liberators so their stories could be preserved. Dad was 58 and had a pristine memory of what he survived. I was a member of the Kiwanis Club of the Five Towns and was friends with Dale Sarro. He was the AV Coordinator for Lawrence High School. I spoke about my epiphany at our Kiwanis Meeting and Dale was moved and offered to help me. We started interviewing at the small theater at Lawrence High School. We produced 40 documentaries from 1982-94. In 1993, I flew out to meet with Steven Spielberg’s people and they started the Shoah Project with our material. My friend Elie Wiesel helped to get us survivors to interview and record. Our documentaries are preserved and available at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yale University Archive of Holocaust Testimony and the World War II Museum in New Orleans.
Nassau County Executive Fran Purcell who helped liberate Buchenwald Concentration Camp loved our work helping humanity and asked me to serve as a Commissioner on the Nassau County Human Rights Commission. A very small world, the Commission Chairman, Paris Swoopes was my USAF Commander when I served from 1969-75. Through the Commission, I started a Human Rights Awareness Day to fight Anti-Semitism. Our first keynote speaker was Sandy Chapin whose late husband Harry was managed by Ron Delsener. I met Ron through Sandy and he helped me start Rock and Wrap It Up! in 1991. The rest is history. We have fed over one billion people.
formally unsolvable problem; how to measure the thinnest part of a human ovum, egg. In the specialized field of IVF, micro insemination of sperm was best accomplished when the thinnest part of the egg surface, the zona pellucida, was found and punctured. Using a new calibration methodology, I developed an algorithm to solve this corundum. I am proud to say it was an instant success.The following week I had read that gastroenterologists were having a difficult time sizing human polyps during colonoscopies. It occurred to me that if I could solve the calibration issues, I could help. I reached out to a specialist, Dr. Harold Jacobs on Central Avenue. He wanted a demo and asked a patient if we could use the system during a procedure.
If the block was good enough for Red Holzman, it was good enough for me ... Over the years Red was an important influence in our lives. When we started the Sid Tanenbaum Basketball Foundation and Tournament, Red asked Walt Frazier to be our first keynote speaker at North Woodmere Park.
I set up next to Dr. Jacobs; the colonoscopy showed some small polyps. I was asked to measure them. Our system could give him a relative measurement, which was recorded and photographed to compare when future tests were to be done. It could give him concise data to determine growth. He was astounded. In spring of 1991, I demonstrated my home run measuring invention to 17 teams who had come to New York. I was featured in dozens of print media pieces, including the Nassau Herald, Nw York Times and Baseball Weekly. I was also featured on many sports TV programs. The next year, after working with CBS Sports, they asked me to develop a system to measure golf drives off tee. I did and it was introduced at the Greg Norman’s Shark Shootout Classic in L.A. in November 1992 and the LPGA Open in summer 1993. Over the next thre years, I was the first to introduce computer-generated sports measurement to baseball, golf, football and basketballs.
All from my work in Cedarhurst at Dr. Jacob’s office measuring polyps!
In 1990 I was working for a think tank, Op-Tech, a division of Olympus Camera. I was hired to develop medical applications for a microscopic measuring system Olympus had acquired. My first application was to solve a
From the editor’s desk: A wild ride through headlines, history and all that defines community
Leatrice Spanierman
Former Executive Editor Nassau Herald
Wow! Here I am, back after a 32-year hiatus from the most productive period of my life as the top editorial executive in the Richner chain. I started writing about fashion, women issues, some gossip, shopping deals etc.; the perk being my own column, Reflections, that I defined as social philosophy.
It was pure chance that I was there at all because I walked into the office one day on a hunch asking for a position on the Rockaway Journal or the Nassau Herald. My major asset was that I lived in Rockaway as a child and then the Five Towns; my minor one was that I was an editor/ writer on my high school and college newspapers and magazines. In other words I did not have the credentials to move up the ladder in the field. Luckily for me, two people with foresight were my third publishers. The Richners, Bob and Edith, accountants, asked me to take over the editorial department. I was in my 20s, married, living locally, with two children under the age of three. I certainly was not qualified for the task; they also had no experience in publishing. There we were: three novices rescuing two dying newspapers. Together we dug in, sometimes working from dawn to midnight, basically learning on the job.
local competitions, as well as nationals. We were on a roll under the direction of t he next generation of Richners, Clifford and Stuart, both lawyers, who I met when they were in elementary school. They used to come into the office, after school, and observe the different departments, even lending a hand. I remember taking young Cliff with me to a press conference with then New York City Mayor John Lindsey. He brought along his new Brownie camera. Must note that his photos were more interesting than those of our staff photographers. Cliff is now retired. Stuart is at the helm of the expanded company.
Gone are the manual typewriters and proofreaders; in are digital and A.I. The world moved on and so did the Herald.
If I were not at the Nassau Herald, I would not have had the opportunity to meet so many interesting local residents, some a bit on the offlegit syndrome. Unknowingly I had lunch with the head of a Mafia ‘family’ from Cedarhurst, who wanted to discuss starting a charity for underserved children. I had no idea who he was, but he was charming, very warm, and sincere with excellent manners. Later he was implicated in the highly publicized murder of a Mob Chief. I also found myself in the home of one of the lesser perpetrators of the Lufthansa heist, as a guest of his wife. Never did meet him; he ended up behind bars. In contrast most of those we met were very special. The Fourth Precinct police officers would stop for coffee or tea at the office, then on Central Avenue in Lawrence. We all became so close that some of my editors and I often advised them on what to give their wives or girlfriends for special occasions. I even went to one detective’s wedding at a temple in Lawrence.
Then there were the volunteer fire fighters. The Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department was next door to the Herald and various members used to visit us, but when the signal sounded, they jumped up and dashed out mid conversation.
We expanded; we flourished; we were respected; the circulation soared and when I retired, more than three decades later, we basically monopolized Long Island news coverage. We won every award from the New York State Press Association, from other
We also must applaud the sanitation workers, so helpful in lots of ways in keeping our hometown clean and safe. I also appreciated that when there was a snowstorm they plowed a path from my driveway in Old Lawrence to make sure that I would not miss a deadline.
There were the drug busts that I observed; the yellow crime barricade tapes that I was legitimately able to cross over to view a murder victim in Hewlett Neck; the march led by the Rev. Al Sharpton on the Atlantic Beach boardwalk to protest the brutal beating of a Lawrence High School minority athlete; the school district walkout by students led by one who eventually became Hillary Clinton’s health czar.
I did the endorsements for the chain, and one of those I interviewed who was running for State Assembly, was Chuck Schumer, now Senate Minority Leader. Among the others were Ed Koch, Alfonse D’Amato, Mario Cuomo, Dean Skelos, Carol Berman, Karen Burstein, Jerry Kremer, Bruce Blakeman, Norman Levy, the list goes on and on. A highlight of my career was having Gov. Nelson Rockefeller sign the Leatrice Slote Spanierman Bicycle Safety Bill into law.
I take pride in the founding of an uncensored Youthquake section edited entirely by teens; the Sisterhood Week, reflecting the rising women’s movement; the Gallery, a secure place for young people to socialize; the innovative Lawrence Youth Commission, the Peninsula Child Guidance Agency, the Five Towns Community Chest Special Events Division, manned by women, and so much more.
It has been a wild ride. And now we mark the centennial of this outstanding company. Gone are the manual typewriters and proofreaders; in are digital and A.I. The world moved on and so did the Herald. So let us celebrate the 100th anniversary of these remarkable chronicles and those who contributed to the success of Richner Communications!
Randi Kreiss Columnist & Former Editor Nassau Herald
I joined the Herald staff when Leatrice Spanierman, the talented and inspiring executive editor, recruited me from the South Shore Record, the “other” weekly paper in town. Leatrice is smart and funny, and we had a good time putting out the Herald week after week, year after year.
When I first started, I think George Washington was about to be inaugurated. It’s hard to remember but I know it was a long time ago. All the years I worked as editor of the Nassau Herald I also wrote my op-ed column, which still runs in all the papers.
Over the decades, I wrote about my husband and about our little kids who now
have teenagers of their own. I wrote about the days of my life, my kids’ weddings, my breast cancer, our travels to Komodo Island and other exotic places, and in the last years, the deaths of my mother and father. In my columns I have also written about American culture as it evolves and about politics, as it unravels.
As an editor, I covered local news, sending reporters to school board meetings and village board meetings and we triaged breaking news, from car crashes to house fires. We also covered national and global events because we knew and we still know that no matter what the big news is, there will be a local angle.
For example, when Ronald Reagan was running for president, he visited Congregation Ohr Torah in North Woodmere where the food committee created a bust of him in chopped liver. Now that’s a local story.
a devastating fire that destroyed our Herald offices in Lawrence. We also wrote obituaries for many readers who were also our friends and neighbors.
As editor I assigned the stories and edited the work. That was straight reporting. As a weekly columnist, the views are always my own, and apparently lots of folks disagree. To me, that is exactly the purpose of a weekly newspaper: to cover local news and serve as a forum for different opinions.
We covered the Kelly Tinyes murder in the 1980s, plane crashes, hurricanes and even
Working as editor of a local newspaper is a joy and sometimes a heartache. I lived in the community so there was no anonymity. As editor I assigned the stories and edited the work. That was straight reporting. As a weekly columnist, the views are always my own, and apparently lots of folks disagree. To me, that is exactly the purpose of a weekly newspaper: to cover local news and serve as a forum for different opinions.
I have grown up and older with the Herald newspapers. What a joy and privilege to be part of America’s free press.
Randi Kreiss may be reached at randik3@aol.com.
Ron Goldman Former Columnist Nassau Herald
As it celebrates its centennial, I, not too far behind it in birthdays, note what the Nassau Herald means to me:
As a writer and columnist: the Nassau Herald means a forum receptive to new
ideas, encouraging of candor and creativity guided by talented professionals.
As a public servant: The Nassau Herald means unbiased, fair-minded reporting of local matters that explains events, while committed to the public good.
As a resident of the Five Towns: The Nassau Herald means devotions to the community, highlighting the character of its citizens and caring for its future while preserving its history.
As a reader: The Nassau Herald means consistently interesting material that provides insight into topics that stimulate thought and reaction.
As an American: The Nassau Herald means the finest embodiment of freedom of the press as it balances its role as
reporter of the news with its responsibility as an editorial proponent of issues in which it believes without pandering, and with coverage and honesty.
Finally, the Nassau Herald means so much to me, because I and every reader and Five Towns resident means so very much to the Nassau Herald — as for a century it has looked at us, looked to us and looked out for us with care and concern.
May it continue to do so for many years to come.
Ron Goldman wrote his Unreserved Judgment column from 1997 to 2022. He wrote 1,000 columns.
Jeff Lipton
Former Editor Nassau Herald
When I was invited to be part of the Nassau Herald’s centennial issue, I was honored and immediately jumped at the opportunity. How could I say no? The paper has been an institution covering the Five Towns, providing residents, merchants, visitors and others with the most local news, feature stories and happenings. For this community newspaper to have endured 100 years, through historic events, from the Great Depression to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been truly remarkable.
I took great pride when I served an 11-year stint as the paper’s news editor and then main editor, from May 1994 to August 2005. Then a Brooklyn resident making the daily commute to the Lawrence office, I have to say, at first, I did not know too much about the Five Towns.
hall meetings.
What I admire the most about the Five Towns is how much the residents care about their neighborhoods, voicing opinions at these public meetings to ensure that elected officials protect their quality of life.
Of course, the Herald covered some of the biggest and most heartwrenching stories during my 11 years on the job, from the tragedy surrounding the Baco Boys — the three local teenagers who drowned in an upstate river in August 2003 as they heroically attempted to rescue a fellow camp counselor — to 9/11.
What I admire the most about the Five Towns is how much the residents care about their neighborhoods.
During my job interview, then-editor Randi Kreiss asked me if I knew the names of the Five Towns. Unfortunately, I listed Lindenhurst as one of them, and that was after I did some research and studied the areas in preparation for the editor’s position. I’m glad Randi overlooked that silly mistake and hired me for the post anyway.
I quickly learned about the paper’s impressive history and how much the local communities depended on it for their main source of information — from covering the monthly school board meetings to the village
Nothing could stop the Herald from publishing the Five Towns’ weekly events — not even a fire that destroyed the Herald’s building on Central Avenue in Lawrence in June 2004. We quickly established our temporary headquarters at a building in the neighborhood and, without missing a beat, continued to churn out the weekly edition. Soon, the Herald relocated its operations to a warehouse in West Hempstead for about a year or two before moving into its now beautiful office building in Garden City.
Unfortunately, I left the newspaper to move upstate before I got to enjoy the new building.
about what I wanted to include in that 75th anniversary issue — I particularly enjoyed looking back at old issues and seeing the advertisements that were run in the Herald of the 1950s and 1960s. My favorite was a sale on bikinis that were “half off,” which kept me wondering which half of the bikini they were selling.
But in addition to the major news stories, the paper continues to provide coverage of the individual events that are important to Five Towns’ families — who’s making the dean’s list, or having a baby or getting married? Those events are just as important to these families and I took great joy in putting it in print for everyone to see.
When I served as the Nassau Herald editor, I was in charge of putting together the paper’s 75th anniversary issue, so I understand what an incredible undertaking it can be. I could only imagine how challenging it is for the current staff to put together a 100th anniversary issue.
I endured many sleepless nights thinking
I was greatly relieved when that anniversary issue was finished and ended up in print. My former reporter, Keith Grant, did a great job rewriting some of those vintage stories and helping me put the issue together, along with our wonderful production and sales staff, under the guidance of Executive Editor John O’Connell, as well as publishers Cliff and Stuart Richner.
Working for a family-owned newspaper chain like Richner Communications is awesome because the staff is treated like family. And I made some lasting friendships that I still cherish.
I want to congratulate the Herald for 100 years of providing excellent service to the community and for inviting me to contribute to this historic issue. Here’s to another 100 years of quality journalism.
Jeffrey Bessen Managing Editor, Long Island Herald Former Editor, Nassau Herald
Iremember driving to 2 Endo Blvd. in Garden City one day in June 2010.
The interview with then Herald Executive Editor John O’Connell appeared to go well. Of the newspapers they had open, he asked which one I would be interested in being the editor. I said Long Beach, since it’s one of only two cities on Long Island. I said it would be interesting to cover a city.
John seemed satisfied with that answer and I left feeling positive about my prospects. A day or two later, I received a call from John who said, “There had been a development.”
The development was the Long Beach reporter had expressed his interest in being editor of that Herald. For a minute I thought I was out of a job, when John said the Nassau Herald editor position was open.
I started on June 28, 2010 and for more than 14 years I was the editor or oversaw the Nassau Herald.
... I was “the Herald man.”
When I went to other schools or the libraries or most any place, the person I knew there would introduce me as Jeff from the Herald. Next to being called Matt’s dad or Liz’s dad, it’s the best title I’ve ever held.
Already having nearly 10 years of community journalism experience, I threw myself into the community or should I say communities. Along with the Five Towns — Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence, and Woodmere — there is Atlantic Beach, Meadowmere Park, North Woodmere, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, and Woodsburgh to cover.
Multiple village governments, two public school districts, several yeshivas, more than a few civic-minded organizations and the synagogues.
However, what always made being the Nassau Herald editor fun are the people. In the first six to eight months I attended every meeting I
could, I went to nearly event and activity, and continually met people. It’s the people who made my job enjoyable. Whether I was conducting interviews for a story, lining people up for a photo, listening to people air their gripes, I loved talking to the people.
I love to say — and the Herald editorial staff has heard me say it countless times — after those initial months I didn’t have to hand out my business card to many in the Five Towns. They knew me and I knew them.
I visited Lawrence High School and I was “the Herald man.” When I went to other schools or the libraries or most any place, the person I knew there would introduce me as Jeff from the Herald. Next to being called Matt’s dad or Liz’s dad, it’s the best title I’ve ever held.
Being the “the Herald man” or Jeff from the Herald gave me a certain entrée to not only local places but a feeling of being community members. I took it as a point of pride that people in the Five Towns thought I lived in the Five Towns.
Running around the communities covering the first day of school, taking photos at Memorial Day parades, listening to civic leaders at Veterans Day ceremonies, watching the community menorah or Christmas tree being lit, being editor of the Nassau Herald allowed me to be a part of the Five Towns experience.
Doing tefillin with Chabad Rabbis Nochem Tenenboim and Zalman Wolowik to writing about the Santa Marina Society and its annual celebration to covering Hurricane Sandy and the Covid pandemic, to Hewlett House to Rock Hall, the Nassau Herald and the Five Towns is special to me.
As the cliché goes “there are too many people to mention,” hopefully you know who you are and that you contributed mightily to the work we do at the Nassau Herald; together we can take a special pride in celebrating the centennial-plus of this great community-minded publication
John
O’Connell Former Executive Editor Long Island Herald
The Nassau Herald was reverentially referred to as the “flagship paper” of the then 14-edition Richner Publications chain when I started as editor of the Valley Stream Herald in 1998. I quickly discovered that despite its flag, the Nassau Herald’s coverage area did not encompass the whole of Nassau County; its “beat” was the five towns of Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Inwood and Hewlett, and smaller neighboring villages, which en masse, began to be called the Five Towns in 1931.
It was also in that decade that the Nassau Herald began. Imagine what New York City was like in the ’30s: anything east of Manhattan and Brooklyn were the faroff lands of Queens and the even more remote Nassau.
The newspaper was called the Nassau Herald rather than the more logical name, the Five Towns Herald, when Robert and Edith Richner acquired it in 1964. Our newspaper office was on Central Avenue in Lawrence when I started, so reporting staff of the Heralds covering the other Nassau County communities, such as Valley Stream, Baldwin, Oceanside, Bellmore, Merrick, Malverne, and many more, didn’t have the benefit — or the curse — of working within
their immediate coverage area. The only editors and reporters not headquartered in Lawrence back then were those assigned to the Long Beach Herald and the Rockville Centre Herald, which were in Long Beach.
On my first day in our Lawrence office, I found my desk flanked by the desks of two of the best journalists in the community journalism business: Nassau Herald editor Jeff Lipton and editor Scott Brinton, whose assigned community escapes me now. (Scott would later edit the Bellmore and Merrick Heralds and become executive editor when I retired.)
Community newspapers aren’t just nameplates or flags. Local newspapers are the people who edit them, who go to and report on school board and village board meetings ... who tell the stories of your neighbors whose stories would never be otherwise told.
There are newspaper people who adequately write about the surface of events, who transcribe speeches and report decisions made at meetings, who report on fires and crimes. And then there were the likes of Jeff and Scott and editors and reporters back then like Angela Marshall, Esther Davis McKenna, Denis Devine, Anthony Rifilato and others who’d come later, real professionals who brought the skills and the desire to give readers the whole truth of what was happening in their communities every week.
The Nassau Herald led the way in covering the complex, diverse and sometimes sensitive stories in the Five Towns. Even after the physically and emotionally devasting fire that destroyed our Central Avenue offices in June 2004 — when we moved temporarily to West Hempstead and then our permanent home in Garden City — the Nassau Herald editor and reporters turned out clear and fair
articles that informed its readers. The quality of the work in the Nassau Herald was affirmed every year by the awards earned from the New York State Press Association and, more importantly, the respect readers and village officials showed to the paper.
Community newspapers aren’t just nameplates or flags. Local newspapers are the people who edit them, who go to and report on school board and village board meetings, who interview teachers and grandmothers and high school sports figures and town heroes and business leaders and police officers and who tell the stories of your neighbors whose stories would never be otherwise told.
I was always humbled to have worked near the fine journalists of the Nassau Herald, back in my early days all the way up to the time I retired, when Jeff Bessen was continuing the proud tradition of excellence of the Herald’s flagship newspaper.
John O’Connell was the Gold Coast Gazette’s (Glen Cove) reporter and managing editor from 1994 to 1998, the Valley Stream Herald’s editor from 1998 to 2003, and Herald Community Newspapers’ executive editor from 2003 to 2016.
Scott Brinton Former Executive Editor, Long Island Herald Former Reporter, Nassau Herald
Paul Schmitt fascinated and frightened me. A former executive chef at the Inwood Country Club and instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, he had checked out of society, living off public land in a trash-laden quarter-acre plot in North Lawrence. He spent much of his time in what he called his “entertainment room,” the back of an aging refrigeration truck. He shared the space with six stray dogs and four rabbits.
I met Schmitt in 1996 as a young reporter for the Nassau Herald, where I had worked for the past three years. Schmitt was remarkable to me, having carved out a life for the previous nine years occupying state Department of Transportation property without permission. At the same time, he was a warning how life can suddenly go awry. Somewhere in his middle age, following a nasty divorce, he left all that he knew. That worried me. I was 29 at the time, five years married and planning children with my wife. (Thankfully, Katerina and I are now 34 years happily married with two grown kids.)
and disconcerting.
The Nassau Herald was my first reporting gig after college and the Peace Corps. Slowly over my four years with the paper, from 1993 to 1997, I came to see myself as a journalist. More specifically, I saw myself as a community journalist. I freelanced for larger outlets later, but my soul remained with community-based reporting.
Community journalism works precisely because it sees people not as curiosities, but as neighbors whose lives matter.
Schmitt sealed my decision that I would, in fact, be a journalist. As a reporter, I spent hours speaking with him, learning the intimate details of his life to report them for the Nassau Herald. Our conversations were enlightening and encouraging, strange
Your 20s are such a turbulent time, with all manner of thought, expectation, hope, and want swirling through your head. It’s a foundational period in one’s life. And my time with the Nassau Herald was a period of intense professional and personal growth, one of the most consequential and exhilarating of my life.
Schmitt’s story had a happy ending. A Five Towns deli owner read my stories about him and offered him a job. He took it and soon rented an apartment (good thing, since the DOT was about to evict him from its land). Then a letter came to the Herald, written in German. A Swiss production artist of ours translated it. Somehow in this pre-Google era, before the Herald had a website, my stories on Schmitt made it to Germany and were read by his family, who for years had searched for him —
he had an inheritance coming his way. I gave him the letter. I never heard from him again. I realized all the good that I could do as a journalist working in and for a community. My stories had a profound influence on Schmitt’s life. Community journalism works precisely because it sees people not as curiosities, but as neighbors whose lives matter.
I stayed a Herald journalist for the next quarter century, moving on to senior editor and eventually executive editor. Thousands of stories followed. I will always remember my years as a Nassau Herald reporter fondly, in no small measure because of the people with whom I was fortunate to work: my publishers, Cliff and Stuart Richner; my editors, Randi Kreiss and Leatrice Spanierman; my friend and fellow reporter, Jeff Lipton. Each guided and mentored me, showed me the path to my life’s work. And now I teach journalism at Hofstra University’s Lawrence Herbert School of Communication. If you’re lucky, as I think I am, life comes full circle.
For two years, I have had the immense pleasure of reporting for the oldest paper in the Herald family.
I remember receiving a call from our now Managing Editor and former Nassau Editor Jeff Bessen, asking if I was interested in joining his team for the Nassau Herald. I thought, what are the odds of a Jewish girl from the South Shore of Long Island having the opportunity to cover one of the most predominantly Jewish areas?
My Herald career officially began on March 13, 2024 and ever since then I have immersed myself into the communities: from village and school board meetings to civic organizations, the JCC, synagogues,and everything in between.
What really makes covering the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach fun are all the incredible people I have met with and formed relationships. I value all of our village mayors/board members who dedicate their time to the community and our two public school district superintendents who are always looking out for the students.
be at least half as incredible as them when I’m older.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people from all walks of life come together with love for their neighborhoods.
We have some of the most selfless, giving residents who spend every moment of their free time helping the community at large and making sure everyone is taken care of. They are true role models and I hope to
I commend our Chabad rabbis who welcome everyone from the community and have invited me to celebrate holidays and candle lightings with them. I truly feel like the Five Towns is my “home away from home” and I know I’ll always have a place to go.
together with love for their neighborhoods.
The communities are blessed to have many rabbis, clergy members, civic leaders, a strong JCC, Rock Hall Museum, Hewlett House, among the many devoted to enhancing their hometown. It is hard to name all the influential and wonderful people I have encountered in the past two years, but I want to thank everyone who has come to know me, reached out personally, shared accomplishments and trusted me with telling their stories.
I am truly beyond lucky to cover the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach and to have been welcomed into the communities with open arms. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people from all walks of life come
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for not only trusting me, but the Nassau Herald to be your hometown paper. I am grateful to be apart of this centennial celebration and look forward to more celebrations ahead.
Here’s to 100 years of the Nassau Herald and all those who make the paper special!
Ann Pedersen Superintendent Lawrence Union Free School District
When I think about the Nassau Herald, the first thing that comes to my mind is the excitement so many students feel when they see themselves and their achievements reflected in their local paper.
Of course the Herald can be a great resource for getting important information out during challenging times for the community — Covid and the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy gave us powerful examples of that. But the more personal stories featured in the paper make a consistent and lasting impact that I would like to acknowledge as we celebrate 100 years of the Herald’s contributions to our community.
For many students and families in our district, looking for their name or picture in the Herald becomes part of the celebration when they’ve won an award, or participated in a local event, or finished a big game with their team. Actually seeing themselves in print, getting to say “I made it into the paper!,” brings real pride and a feeling of accomplishment. Regardless of their age and dispute today’s online media environment of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’, appearing in the Herald is something very special. They appreciate the difference between something that is just a post, and being part of an actual local story.
Over the years, the Herald has provided a record of our history, one that feels personal and specific because of the paper’s local focus. In Lawrence, we actually have a few employees who have made an ongoing project out of clipping and saving every mention of the school or a student that appears in the Herald. Going through these clippings, I am reminded of the story of our district, and of the many good times and milestone moments that come each year.
As children develop new skills and begin to make a mark in the world around them, it is important that they receive feedback and recognition for what they have accomplished. Parents, families, community leaders, and teachers all play an important role in that. And the Herald plays a role in that too — an important and unique one. Being seen in the Herald means being seen by your neighbors. It is something to be proud about, and for many families, it is a moment of recognition that comes after putting in a lot of hard work. Our community is fortunate to have a local paper that is as committed to its mission as the Herald.
I wish you well in your next hundred years!
Dina M. Anzalone Superintendent Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools
Throughout my journey in the HewlettWoodmere school district, from principal to superintendent, the Nassau Herald has been far more than a newspaper. It has been an extension of our community itself, serving as the voice of knowledge and reason that keeps us connected, informed, and united in our shared mission to provide excellence for our students.
What distinguishes the Herald from mere reporting is its profound understanding that a community newspaper doesn’t just document events, it weaves the fabric that holds us together. Time and again, the Herald has helped everyone in our district feel like they are part of the same special thing, celebrating our triumphs, supporting us through challenges, and reminding us of the values that define who we are as a community.
“Time and again, the Herald has helped everyone in our district feel like they are part of the same special thing, celebrating our triumphs, supporting us through challenges, and reminding us of the values that define who we are as a community.
One of my most cherished memories exemplifies this beautifully. During the global pandemic, when the world seemed to pause and uncertainty clouded every day, the Herald made a deliberate choice that reflected its deep commitment to our community. Instead of simply reporting on all the ways the pandemic stopped life, and there were countless stories of loss and limitation, the Herald chose hope. It illuminated how the Hewlett-Woodmere school district and our broader community banded together, joined by a difficult situation but refusing to be defined by it.
The Herald’s coverage during those challenging months showcased holiday events that brought joy to families, students finding innovative ways to stay connected, families supporting one another from safe distances, and a district that never stopped believing in the power of education and community. These weren’t just feel-good stories; they were testaments to human resilience and the extraordinary character of our Five Towns community.
It is precisely this type of reporting that instills hope in the human race and makes others recognize the tremendous benefit of living in such an incredible place. It is a genuine joy to work with reporters who truly listen and report with purpose. The Herald’s journalists don’t simply collect quotes, they seek to understand context, capture nuance and tell stories that matter. This thoughtful approach reminds us to seek solutions, celebrate progress and maintain perspective even during difficult times.
As we reflect on the Herald’s impact, I’m grateful for a publication that sees its role not simply as an observer but as an active participant in building the kind of community we all want to be part of, informed, connected and forever hopeful about tomorrow.
One hundred years ago, the communities hugging the western shore of the Rockaway peninsula were already starting to grow — but they didn’t yet have a shared name. The stockbrokers and garment merchants building summer estates in Hewlett, the Irish and Italian families settling into Inwood and Lawrence, the Jewish families beginning to put down permanent roots in Cedarhurst, the old Protestant aristocracy retreating behind the gates of Back Lawrence — they all shared a peninsula and a railroad line, but hadn’t yet come to think of themselves as a single community.
The name that would bind them came into use gradually and naturally in the early 20th century.
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21, 1976
The five consecutive stops on the Long Island Rail Road’s Far Rockaway Branch — Hewlett, Woodmere, Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Inwood — gave residents an obvious shorthand for their cluster of communities. By the early 1930s, “the Five Towns” had passed into common usage, and in 1931 the newly formed Five Towns Community Chest became the first organization to make it official in its name.
In the century since, these five communities — along with Woodsburgh, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Hewlett Bay Park, Atlantic Beach, North Woodmere and Meadowmere Park — have lived more history, weathered more heartbreak, and generated more community pride than almost any other patch of suburbia in America.
The Nassau Herald was founded by the Beegle brothers as the Rockaway Branch Journal and renamed around 1931 to its current title. In 1964, the husband-and-wife team of Robert and Edith Richner purchased the
newspaper and became its publishers. Today, the Richner family continues to lead the publication as owners of the Nassau Herald’s parent company, Richner Communications, which publishes 25 editions of the Long Island Herald. Ultimately, however, the newspaper belongs to you—the community. For 100 years, the Nassau Herald has served the Five Towns with pride and humility. This is the story of that century, told for the people who lived it, are living it and will carry it forward.
When the 1920s opened, the Five Towns were in transition from the Gilded Age to something faster, louder and more democratic.
Developer Carleton Macy’s Hewlett Bay Park Corporation was erecting large homes on five-acre plots — elegant seasonal retreats for New York City’s wealthy. But the real
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texture of daily life was being stitched together by ordinary families putting down roots.
The three Catholic parishes that would anchor the Irish and Italian communities for generations were already established fixtures of the landscape. Our Lady of Good Counsel
(Inwood), St. Joachim’s (Cedarhurst), and St. Joseph’s (Hewlett) served families who had come to the Five Towns to work — on the estates, on the railroad, in the trades — and who stayed to build homes, raise children and create the stable working-class continued on next page
July 18, 1985
and middle-class backbone of communities that might otherwise have been purely enclaves of the wealthy. The parishes were more than churches. They were schools, social halls, youth organizations, and the connective tissue of neighborhoods that would endure for a century. The twenties definitely roared in the Five Towns. Arnold Rothstein — widely believed to have bankrolled the fixing of the 1919 World Series and the real-life inspiration for Meyer Wolfsheim in “The Great Gatsby” — operated a beachfront casino at Hewlett Harbor as early as 1916. Prohibition, which arrived in 1920, deepened the area’s underworld connections. The Five Towns’ labyrinth of bays, inlets and channels was tailor-made for rum-running. The respectable and the illicit existed side by side, separated only by the discretion that money buys.
In 1920, Harvey Milk was born in Woodmere — a Jewish kid who would grow up in these streets, play football, love opera, teach at George W.
February 6, 1986
Hewlett High School, and, in 1977, elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors as the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States. Tragically he and thenMayor George Moscone were assassinated in 1978. The Five Towns had helped raise someone who would change America.
The Depression hit the Five Towns the way it hit every American community — but with particular cruelty in a place where wealth had been concentrated. The great estates of Back Lawrence and Hewlett Bay Park were subdivided and sold off. An era ended quietly and without ceremony.
The federal government’s response left a permanent mark. In 1937, WPA workers constructed the Cedarhurst Municipal Stadium near Peninsula Boulevard and Rockaway Turnpike on the site of the present-day
January 8, 1989
Lawrence High School. Between 1937 and 1941, the stadium hosted the New York Black Yankees and the Brooklyn Royal Giants of the Negro National League — among the finest players in the country. Ironically, the WPA had created a venue for Black athletes of the highest caliber to play in a community that was simultaneously
and systematically excluding Black families from buying homes — a contradiction as American as the game being played.
The WPA also produced something more durable than a stadium: a book. Workers from the Federal Writers’ continued on next page
Project compiled “The Story of the Five Towns,” capturing the communities’ history and social fabric at a moment of transition. It remains one of the most valuable primary sources on Five Towns history.
The Five Towns sent its sons to war with a solemnity every American community shared and absorbed its losses with a grief entirely its own. Memorial plaques at Andrew J. Parise Park in Cedarhurst and other locations across the Five Towns bare the names of native sons who gave their lives — a quiet reminder that the same streets where families shop on Friday afternoons were once full of young men who left and did not return.
When the war ended and the GI Bill arrived, everything changed at once. Returning veterans flooded into Nassau County’s new housing developments. The large estates were subdivided in earnest. Developers
built block after block of Colonial Revivals and split-levels on what had been lawns and orchards. The communities filled in rapidly, acquiring the infrastructure of permanent, year-round civic life: schools, libraries, firehouses, volunteer organizations, Little Leagues, PTAs.
Jewish families from Brooklyn — Borough Park, Flatbush, Crown Heights — made the move to Long Island in enormous numbers, bringing their synagogues, social networks, educational values, and delis. Conservative and Reform congregations established themselves throughout the Five Towns. Temple Israel of Lawrence grew to become the largest Reform synagogue on Long Island. Five Towns Jews were not retreating from America — they were building their version of it.
The Orthodox Jewish community, which had begun with a handful of families in a Cedarhurst storefront in 1928, would grow over the following decades into the dominant
September 20,
institutional presence of the Five Towns — establishing an eruv, shuls, yeshivas, and a mikvah, and transforming Central Avenue
No account of the Five Towns is complete without recognizing
Inwood’s distinct character. Inwood is the lowest-lying and most bay-exposed of the communities, and also the most economically diverse, with a demographic profile that has always differed meaningfully from its neighbors to the east.
Inwood’s working-class Irish and continued on next page
Italian communities — families tied to the waterfront, the trades, the railroad, and the civil service — gave the neighborhood a character that was rougher-edged and more rooted in labor than the suburban professional world of Cedarhurst or Woodmere. The parish life of these communities shaped generations of Inwood kids and gave the neighborhood a social cohesion that persisted long after the world around it changed.
Inwood also bore a disproportionate share of wounds inflicted on the Five Towns. It was Inwood that took the worst of Superstorm Sandy’s surge. It is Inwood where the gap between wealth and need is most visible today.
The Five Towns community was never just the five villages and hamlets that gave their names to a string of railroad stations. The community that today functions as
the Five Towns actually consists of seven incorporated villages including Atlantic Beach — the barrier island community served by the Lawrence Union Free School District. Its oceanfront character, shaped by a summer-colony history that has long since become year-round residential life, adds another dimension to the Five Towns.
The villages of Woodsburgh, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck and Hewlett Bay Park surround Hewlett Bay. North Woodmere is also an important part of the community. Its residents consider themselves Five Towners, as do the residents of the tiny neighborhood of Meadowmere Park.
The Five Towns have a long and often unexpected relationship with American popular culture. Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas features them prominently — Henry Hill’s wife
Karen Friedman Hill was from Lawrence, and in the film Tommy DeVito mentions that his date “lives in the Five Towns.” The community is thus embedded in the DNA of one of the greatest American films about organized crime — a fitting echo of Arnold Rothstein’s casino half a century earlier.
Beyond fiction, the Five Towns have produced a remarkable roster of notable figures. Jake Burton, who founded Burton Snowboards and essentially created the modern snowboard industry, grew up in Cedarhurst. Red Holzman, the Hall of continued on next page
4, 2009
Fame coach who led the Knicks to their two NBA championships, was a Five Towns resident. Milton Berle lived in Lawrence. United States Senator Barbara Boxer grew up here before heading west. Jim Steinman, who wrote the music for “Bat Out of Hell,” grew up in the Five Towns. Lawrence High School produced Ira Magaziner, senior White House policy advisor, and Sir Gilbert Levine, the conductor known internationally as “the Pope’s Maestro.” Shoe designer Steve Madden is a graduate of Lawrence High School, while fashion icon Donna Karen attended Hewlett High School.
The Five Towns lost 63 people on Sept. 11, 2001. In a community of fewer than 50,000 people, that number is not a statistic — it is a rupture. These were commuters who had taken the LIRR to Penn Station that morning as they did every morning. They were fathers and mothers and sons and daughters who had kissed
June 11, 2009
their families goodbye in the same driveways where their children played, on streets where their families had spent generations building lives.
Andrew J. Parise Park in Cedarhurst became a gathering place for grief that September. Synagogues, churches, and civic organizations held services for communities that barely had a category for what had happened. Everyone knew someone. Everyone had a story. The community mourned, and then — because this is what people do — got on with the business of living. But it carried something new: a knowledge of its own vulnerability, and a fierce insistence on maintaining the rhythms of communal life even when the world had shown how suddenly those rhythms could be broken.
Nothing in memory had prepared the Five Towns for what arrived on the night of Oct. 29, 2012. Sandy sent
June 18, 2009
a catastrophic storm surge northward through Rockaway Inlet and into Jamaica Bay. The Five Towns, sitting directly in its path, suffered some of the worst flooding in all of Nassau County. Inwood, lowest-lying and most exposed, was overwhelmed. Boats sat in the middle of residential streets. Entire blocks were left without power, heat or habitable
housing.
Many residents who left in Sandy’s aftermath never returned. The recovery stretched across years, complicated by insurance battles and bureaucratic weight. Volunteers from synagogues, churches and civic organizations worked alongside
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November 23, 2017
January 24, 2019
emergency responders in a mobilization of communal effort that residents describe with a combination of pride and exhaustion. With today’s rising sea levels and intensifying storms, the question of long-term sustainability for these waterfront communities is no longer a distant abstraction — it demands practical answers.
In an era when American downtowns have hollowed out and e-commerce has gutted a thousand suburban Main Streets, Central Avenue in Cedarhurst and Lawrence today is a genuine anomaly. It is alive — emphatically, noisily, obstinately alive.
On a Friday afternoon before Shabbos, Central Avenue achieves something close to a religious experience in its own right: the controlled chaos of a community completing its week. Bakeries push
out challahs as fast as the ovens allow. Kosher butchers and fish shops do the week’s highest volume. Grandmothers run into granddaughters. Rabbis greet congregants. The whole mechanism of Jewish communal life shifts into its highest gear. The character of the street has evolved over the decades — from the secular Jewish shopping destination once called “the South Shore’s Rodeo Drive” to an emphatically kosher, emphatically observant commercial corridor — but its vitality has never wavered.
The Five Towns contain two public school districts — the Lawrence Union Free School District (District 15), serving Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Inwood, Atlantic Beach, and parts of Woodmere and North Woodmere, and the Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District (District 14) — along with an ecosystem of private schools, yeshivas and Jewish day schools that
rivals anything in the metropolitan area.
Lawrence High School has produced senators, scientists, musicians, and artists: the full American range. Hewlett High School counts among its alumni Nobel laureate Louise Glück, Emmy Awardwinning Late Night producer Barbara Gaines, and entrepreneur Rande
Gerber. Beyond the public schools, HAFTR, the Yeshiva of South Shore, HALB and its SKA and DRS High School, Rambam Mesivta, and a dozen other institutions make the Five Towns one of the most educationally rich small communities in America.
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The institutions that bind this community together
The Five Towns have always been sustained by an unusually dense network of civic and charitable organizations. The Five Towns Community Chest, organized in 1931, is one of the oldest continuously operating community chests in New York State. The country clubs the Rockaway Hunting Club, the Seawane Club, the Woodmere Club, the Inwood Country Club, the Lawrence Village
Golf Club have served as the social infrastructure of the upper middle class for generations.
Volunteer organizations represent the working-class civic backbone: The fire departments LawrenceCedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett Bay, Inwood and Meadowmere Park staffed entirely by volunteers; Hatzalah of the Rockaways and Nassau County, providing around-theclock emergency medical response with a speed and community
embeddedness that professional services often can’t match. These are the organizations that show up at 3 a.m. when you need them.
The Five Towns of today would be both recognizable and startling to a resident from 1926. The railroad is still a vital transportation mode the same five stops that gave the community its name, still carrying commuters to Penn Station every
morning. The bay is still beautiful and still dangerous. Central Avenue is still alive in ways that should not be possible in the e-commerce age. The schools are still the central civic institutions of their communities. The parishes are still vital.
Yet there are also real challenges ahead. The climate question looms: Superstorm Sandy was not the last word on the subject, and these communities are built on low ground continued on next page
May 9, 2024
June 20, 2024
between the bay and the ocean. The demographic question is open: the Orthodox community continues to grow; the non-Orthodox Jewish population continues to age; the broader community continues to be woven, sometimes uncomfortably, into a shared civic life.
The Nassau Herald has covered the Five Towns through bootleggers and baseball teams, through Depression and war, through the great migrations and the storms, through every school board election and zoning dispute, and through communal triumph and communal tragedy. It has been the institutional memory of a place that deserves to be remembered and celebrated.
So, here’s to the next 100 years. May they be as rich, as complicated, as surprising, and as stubbornly vital as the last.
July 7, 2021
to our readers for a century of trust, support and community. For 100 years you have made the part of the Five Towns story
Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway a place defined by history, legacy, and a deep sense of belonging. Formed through the merger of two storied institutions, Hillel and HILI, HAFTR proudly carries forward decades of educational excellence while continually evolving to meet the needs of today’s students and families. Rooted in tradition yet guided by forward-thinking vision, HAFTR represents the strength that comes from honoring the past while preparing for the future.
More than a school, HAFTR is a community built on mutual support and shared purpose. Faculty, staff, students, and families work together as one extended family, united by a commitment to growth, learning, and Jewish values. Within our classrooms and hallways, every individual is seen, valued, and encouraged to reach their full potential. There is a sense that success at HAFTR is not measured solely by academic achievement, but by the relationships formed and the care shown for one another along the way.
The HAFTR name is widely recognized throughout the Jewish world, far beyond the local streets. Known for its rigorous academics, meaningful Torah learning, and strong values, HAFTR has earned a reputation for educating the whole child. Students are challenged intellectually while being nurtured socially and spiritually, gaining the confidence and skills needed to thrive as committed members of the Jewish community and the broader world.
That impact extends well beyond graduation. HAFTR’s alumni network spans the globe, connecting generations of graduates who carry the school’s values into their lives, careers, and communities. Whether in professional fields, communal leadership, or family life, HAFTR alumni remain deeply connected to the institution that helped shape them. This enduring bond speaks to the lasting influence of a HAFTR education and the pride that comes with being part of such a meaningful legacy.
Working and learning at HAFTR means being part of something greater. It is a place where history and innovation meet, where professionalism and warmth go hand in hand, and where every member of the community knows they belong. HAFTR is where education happens, and also a place where shared values live and are experienced, relationships are built, and futures are shaped. It is truly HaMakom Shelanu, our place.
Leslie Gang Director of Admissions Brandeis Hebrew Academy
My connection with the Nassau Herald began as a high school senior writing for Jeff Bessen. Being invited to contribute to the school section sparked my excitement and inspired my love for storytelling and community. That early chapter in my life guided me forward when I attended Boston University. There, I wrote for The Daily Free Press, covering school-wide and local events. Each story I worked on reminded me of the lessons I first learned through the Herald. I discovered how meaningful it is to share the voices and experiences of others and how writing can strengthen connections within a community.
When I think about how our community comes together to lift one another up, I feel a genuine sense of warmth and connection. Looking back, I see how every moment with the Nassau Herald has come together to form a meaningful and beautiful story in my life.
When I returned home to Long Island, my roles in local yeshivot brought me back to the Herald in a very warm and familiar way. Working again with Jeff and his wonderful team felt like returning to a place that had always supported me. The Herald consistently highlighted our programs and milestones, helping to celebrate the growth and achievements of our students and schools. Their support always felt genuine and heartfelt, and it meant a great deal to me.
When Dovid and I started Hindis Libraries in 2018, the Herald amplified our mission, helping us reach many more people. In 2019, they recognized us as People of the Year, an honor that filled us with gratitude. Jeff, Melissa, and the entire Herald family have had a profound impact on my life, both personally and professionally. They have been partners, supporters, and friends through every stage of my journey.
When I think about how our community comes together to lift one another up, I feel a genuine sense of warmth and connection. Looking back, I see how every moment with the Nassau Herald has come together to form a meaningful and beautiful story in my life. I am forever grateful for their encouragement, their kindness and the opportunities they helped create.
Joe Ruvolo Commissioner Hewlett Fire Department
The Herald has been a part of my life for as far as I can remember. It has been an intricate part of the community by reporting all local current events and informing on presentation of the arts throughout the community. It has been extremely informative regarding our
school districts, from elections to cultural events and school sports.
The Herald has given exposure to some great athletes who have graced the athletic facilities of our schools. They report on school plays and keep sports fans informed on our local teams.
All of our local governments use the Herald for public legal notices and information regarding large capital projects and special sales. Many of the local governments declare it as their official newspaper.
crime trends and local fire department events. Their reporting is aggressive and due to print run time they rush to get the word out.
The police and fire departments in our area rely on the Herald to inform the public about crime trends and local fire department events.
The police and fire departments in our area rely on the Herald to inform the public about
Good reporters who, over the years, have written without editorializing and just report the facts, which shows good non-biased reporting. All in all, the Herald has been in important part of the community by pooling current events and information in a package of information for all to enjoy.
Joseph McHugh Chief Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department
The Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department has long stood as a cornerstone of public safety in the Five Towns, serving the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst. Like many Long Island volunteer departments, its roots trace back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In its earliest days, firefighting in the Lawrence-Cedarhurst area was handled by small groups of local volunteers using rudimentary equipment — hand-drawn hose carts, bucket brigades, and later, horsedrawn apparatus. As the population grew and development expanded, the need for a more formalized and better-equipped department became clear.
Over the decades, the department evolved alongside the communities it serves. Motorized fire apparatus replaced horse-drawn equipment in the early 20th century, significantly improving response times and firefighting capabilities. Firehouses were constructed and expanded, becoming not only operational hubs but also community gathering places. The
department developed specialized companies.
Volunteerism has remained at the heart of the department’s identity. Generations of families in Lawrence and Cedarhurst have served, passing down a tradition of civic duty and community pride.
The department has also played a significant role beyond emergency response. It has hosted fire prevention programs in local schools, participated in community events and parades, and provided public education on safety and preparedness. These outreach efforts have strengthened ties between the department and residents, reinforcing its role as a trusted and visible presence in everyday community life.
In recent decades, the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department has continued to modernize, incorporating advanced firefighting technology, improved communications systems and updated safety protocols. Despite these changes, its core mission has remained the same: to protect life and property through dedicated volunteer service.
Today, the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department stands as a testament to the enduring strength of volunteerism in the Five Towns — a department shaped by history, sustained by community support and committed to serving future generations.
We extend our congratulations to the Nassau Herald on their centennial! We appreciate all the hard work the Herald has done for our community and the county.
David Stern Chairman Woodmere Fire Department
For 30 years I have served as a member of the Woodmere Fire Department. During that time, the Nassau Herald has stood beside us, telling the story of volunteers who protect this community.
Much of our work happens out of view. We plan for large-scale incidents and routine alarms. We train week after week so your firefighters perform with skill and discipline. We inspect and maintain our engines, trucks and lifesaving
equipment. We prepare for coastal storms and heat waves. We adapt to new challenges such as electric vehicles, battery fires and evolving building systems. We do all of this while holding full-time jobs and showing up for our families. When the pager activates at 2 a.m., we respond, then report to work a few hours later.
The Herald has made sure those efforts do not go unnoticed.
I remember the coverage of Peter Lund’s line of duty death. The Herald captured the depth of our loss and the strength of a community that stood with us. The articles honored his service and helped residents understand the risks volunteers accept each time a pager sounds. That coverage mattered to his family and to every member who stood in formation that day.
The Herald reports on our response with care and accuracy. Each article reminds residents that their fire department is ready at any hour.
residents we serve but also our own members. Some volunteers faced damage to their own homes while still reporting for duty. It was traumatic in many ways. The Herald’s coverage told the full story. It showed the strain on the community and the quiet determination of responders who continued to serve despite personal loss.
The same has been true during major fires and serious accidents. The Herald reports on our response with care and accuracy. Each article reminds residents that their fire department is ready at any hour.
When Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012, our department responded to flooded neighborhoods, damaged homes and extended power outages. The storm affected not only the
Serving is a rollercoaster. We experience pride and heartbreak, success and loss. Through it all, the Nassau Herald has recognized the commitment of volunteer firefighters who protect this community. That recognition strengthens the bond between the department and the people we serve.
By Abbey Salvemini
For decades, Hewlett House has stood as a quiet but powerful symbol of compassion for cancer patients and their family and friends in the heart of the Five Towns. The multi-purpose, professionally staffed facility — in a home-like setting — is a welcoming spot offering information, counseling and meetings; where a pot of coffee is always on the stove and a listening ear available.
It’s place where love, kindness and community are practiced every single day. In an increasingly difficult and uncertain world, it remains, to those who know it, a house of love.
At the center of that mission is Executive Director Geri Barish, whose lifelong dedication has shaped Hewlett House into a refuge for individuals and families facing serious illness, grief and caregiving challenges. Offering free, compassionate support in a welcoming setting, Hewlett House ensures no one has to face life’s most difficult moments alone.
“I always wanted to have a place where people who were ill, or needed help, didn’t have to worry about how they were going to pay their bills,” says Barish.
Barish’s leadership of Hewlett House fulfills a dream and vision Barish had when she began her own struggle with breast cancer. Barish vowed a long time ago, that given the opportunity, no one would have to go through what she did: to battle this dreadful disease alone.
The Herald has been one of our lifelines; we rely on this paper so much.
Equally vital has been the long-standing relationship between Hewlett House and the Nassau Herald. Over the years, the Herald has served not just as a source of local news, but as a bridge — connecting Hewlett House to neighbors, supporters and families who may not have known where to turn.
“I love what the Herald does; they put us out there and share Hewlett House with the neighbors,” Barish says, noting that this support has been an important part of her journey.
The bond between Hewlett House and the Herald is deeply personal, shaped by countless interactions and shared moments. Barish recalls the warmth and sincerity she felt from the very beginning, especially in her encounters with the Richner family.
“There is just something very warm about the [Richner] family, and about Stuart,” says Barish.
That warmth, she says, defines true community — professional yet personal, supportive and understanding on both sides. From the moment Hewlett House connected with the Herald, a genuine partnership took shape.
“The Herald has been one of our lifelines; we rely on this paper so much,” says Barish. “I tell everybody who comes in here to read the Herald.”
In an era of endless media choices, Hewlett House and the Herald continue to rely on one another as trusted partners, united by a shared belief in relationships and the power of storytelling to bring the community together.
Copies of the Herald are always within reach at Hewlett House. Together, Hewlett House and the Herald exemplify what happens when community, compassion and connection lead the way.
A story that saved a life: How the Nassau Herald led one teen to hope and healing
Geri Barish
Executive
Director
Hewlett
House
While covering an event at the Hewlett House, the Herald reached a young woman without even knowing the incredible impact the article had on her life.
I will call her Angel because I am so thankful for the Herald’s story and that she reached out to Hewlett House. Angel was visiting a friend and was very frightened to tell her parents of a lump she had found on her chest that hurt and would not go away. She was only 15.
After seeing the children planting in the gardens and reading about our services somehow she found us and we met. She had read about why I got involved in cancer advocacy and support because of the death of my son and she wondered if it could happen to her. We talked for long hours and I explained how far we have come with research and that it was so important for her to tell her parents.
We talked for long hours and I explained how far we have come with research ... it was important to tell her parents.
As we walked through Hewlett House she asked so many questions and realized her thirst for educating herself before she confronted her fear of what this lump might be. She asked me if I was her mother what would I do; I responded how about we call your mom and you invite her over and you could tell her now and I will be waiting. I realized she wanted support and needed the reinsurance of a safety net. She agreed that the faster she saw a doctor the better.
She called her mom and while we waited for her mom to come over I gave her a teddy bear to hold on to. I will never forget the tears and hugs between her and her mother.
The lump was cancer. It was caught in time; she is now cancer-free and will be going off to college next year.
Thank you to the wonderful staff at the Herald. Thank you Stuart Richner for helping to keep Hewlett House in the forefront. The Herald saved a young girl’s life.
If you have been injured, then you need legal representation to protect your
We pride ourselves on being a Freeport business. Jason A. Greenberg and members of the office staff live in Freeport and support our community.
Local enough to know our hometown; big enough to fight against anyone, anyplace, anytime.
We help people all over Long Island and New York City.
Millions of dollars in recoveries for our injured clients.
Where other firms only settle, we fight for you and win verdicts.
Nat Etrog
Longtime resident Atlantic Beach
Ibegan working as a Nassau County-certified ocean lifeguard in the Village of Atlantic Beach during the summer of 1965. This afforded me the opportunity of staying abreast with local and countywide news, and of course,
the excellent coverage of local village politics and elections. Ten years later I purchased my first home in the Village of Atlantic Beach and was appointed at commissioner of the village’s Parks and Beaches Commission.
Over the next 50 years I had the honor to serve in several appointed and elected voluntary positions in the Village of Atlantic Beach including chairman of the Parks and Beaches Commission, trustee on two separate occasions, deputy
During the past 50 years I was fortunate to establish an ongoing relationship with the Nassau Herald staff.
mayor, commissioner, Atlantic Beach Fire District chairman, Nassau County Water Rescue Association, and for the past 26 years, member of the Atlantic Beach Rescue Unit, for 12 years serving as captain of the unit’s Water Rescue Team. During the past 50 years I was fortunate to establish an ongoing relationship with the Nassau Herald staff. The village, Atlantic Beach Fire District and Rescue Unit conducted and
sponsored numerous community activities including the village’s annual Fall Festival,annual Earth Day Beach Cleanup, Lifeguard Intra-Crew Olympics, Junior Lifeguard Program, and the Atlantic Beach Rescue Unitsponsored Emergency Medical Services Water Safety Drill.
The Nassau Herald consistently provided exceptional photographic and narrative copy for all of the aforementioned.
We recently had the pleasure of taking Managing Editor Jeff Bessen for a ride in our 28-foot Brunswick Rescue Craft which afforded Jeff the opportunity for a first hand view of our water rescue capabilities. This summer we hope to afford Herald senior reporter Melissa Berman the same opportunity.
The day Edith Richner walked in: How the Herald helped build our business
I opened my store, Central Galleries, in October of 1985 and Edith Richner popped by to wish me luck and was looking around as she had an artistic eye. A couple of years later, she ended up buying art from us also.
She told me about advertising, how long they’ve been in the neighborhood and how they were on the next block from my store. She then explained to me about how advertising in a local paper was like for the Five Towns community and that everybody read the local paper because the reporting was great.
I told her I had familiarity because I had experience using local papers for advertising. We ended up taking a four-week special and then we had a 52week deal for a couple of years. The Nassau Herald proved to be very valuable for us in those beginning years and helped build
Alex, left, and his dad Jeff Beja of Central Galleries in Cedarhurst.
our business.
Later on, we worked with Cliff and did the print mailers, which was very effective because of the artwork, and framing that we sell. It was a very visual product and it was just when they started the four color printing on cardstock and on sheets. It was very productive for us and we worked with him on
various advertising campaigns for artist exhibitions and time sensitive artist opening and receptions.
The paper always did nice write-ups for us on the artists and presenters and had a nice relationship with us. We’ve done full-run in the papers in the past along with targeting neighborhoods and it’s very
comfortable to work with the Richners for many years. We built our business slowly and have always been located in the Five Towns.
We’re very happy where we are and the community is happy to have us. People come from all over and very far places to buy our artwork and meet the artists we bring in.
My son Alex has been working with us since he was in high school in 2009 for 17 years now. He has a BFA from Hofstra University.
We’ve been involved with the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District since its founding and I’m currently the vice president and Alex is on the board.
Congratulations to the Richner family on 100 years of serving the community! This is in honor of Edith Richner who sold us our first ad and for welcoming us into the Herald family.
A Legacy Worth Celebrating
The Nassau Herald has spent a century informing and inspiring the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach. That kind of dedication deserves recognition.
NewspaperCRM is proud to congratulate the Nassau Herald on this incredible milestone. As your CRM partner for the past 10 years, it has been an honor to play a small role in your continued success.
Here’s to 100 years and to the many more ahead.
Cindy Grosz Lifelong Five Towns resident
More than any other newspaper or publication, the Nassau Herald could be related to my personal lifeline.
I’ve written, been written about and even worked behind the scenes in the offices of Richner Publications. I remember the late Robert and Edith Richner, founders of Richner Publications then, and watching Cliff and Stuart expand to Richner Communications, moving from the Five
Towns and expanding to electronic media.
I learned so much from Leatrice Spanierman, our local fashionista and perfectionist in editing, to enjoying a professional relationship with Jeff Bessen.
Photos of me as student, as a community neighborto being featured in today’s political and cultural headlines can be compared to the changes of the Five Towns.
My favorite articles are probably the ones you would least expect. Once in my 20s and once in my 40s, I was featured in highlights of Cedarhurst shopping. The differences in the stories represented the changes in the neighborhood and its residents at the time.
The first article featured the legendary restaurants and stores no longer with us. Who could forget the chocolate cheesecake at Pies Plus and then in Ronny’s and Bib ‘N Tucker.
The lines for the first days of the Jildor sale went around the corner. Jildor is the only store featured in both articles.
The article about 20 years later featured
dressing more modestly and purchasing hats from the local stores.
I love the fact that family, friends and neighbors have been featured as well. It’s always nice to reminisce about an event like when Temple Hillel hosted President Ronald Reagan (in 1984) or when the Five Towns congressional group hosted their annual Herbert Tenzer breakfasts featuring legends like Congressman John Lewis.
Growing up, we didn’t have loads of Jewish local papers, and papers weren’t piled high in front of supermarkets. The South Shore Record was the only other local publication (now owned by Richner Communications).
What makes the Herald unique is that it is really the only local media outlet that has a history of publishing for everyone. Jews and Christians, religious and secular, and reporting for our expanding population. Congratulations to everyone from the past and in the future who has been part of the Nassau Herald family.
Being a good neighbor means being there for my community. As your local State Farm® agent, I'm ready to help whenever you need me. Give me a call.
Congratulations to the Nassau Herald on celebrating 100 years!
As a longtime resident of the Five Towns — first in Lawrence for nearly a decade and now in Cedarhurst since 2017 — I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for how the Nassau Herald has chronicled my journey over the years.
From my service in the New York Army National Guard and the New York Guard, to my return to the world of figure skating, and even marching in uniform during Memorial Day parades, the Herald has been there to capture and share these meaningful moments.
Being featured in your publication has been both humbling and deeply affirming.
One of the most memorable highlights was the story “Seeing double in the New York Guard,” which spotlighted the unique experience of serving alongside my twin brother. That article beautifully captured the bond we share and the pride we feel in serving our state together.
I was also honored to be recognized in “Cedarhurst resident honored by New York Guard,” which detailed my receipt of the Operational Support Medal and the Commander’s Citation for my continued
service in the New York Guard. These acknowledgments meant the world to me, and I’m grateful to the Herald for sharing them with our community.
More recently, the Herald covered my return to figure skating after more than 30 years away. These features not only celebrated a personal milestone but also reminded me of the power of community storytelling.
Having a local paper that takes the time to spotlight its residents is a monumental undertaking — one that strengthens the fabric of our community. The Nassau Herald doesn’t just report the news; it preserves our stories, our milestones, and our shared identity.
Thank you for your dedication, your care and your commitment to telling the stories that matter. I look forward to reading the Herald for many years to come.
Rabbi Nochem Tenenboim Chabad of Hewlett
As the Center for Jewish Life in Hewlett, we don’t see the Nassau Herald as merely a newspaper. We see it as a partner, a neighbor and truly a part of our community’s heartbeat. For so many years, the Nassau Herald has not simply reported on events, it has helped shape the way our community experiences, remembers and celebrates them.
In moments of challenge, this has been especially clear. After Oct. 7, 2023, when our community was shaken and hearts were broken, the Nassau Herald stood with us. The front page coverage of memorials, gatherings, prayers, and unity was not just journalism; it was comfort. It gave voice to our pain while also sharing our strength and resilience. It helped our community feel seen, held and united during one of the darkest times in recent memory.
But just as much, the Nassau Herald has been there in times of joy, celebration and inspiration. Holiday messages, children’s programs, menorah lightings, Purim celebrations, and countless moments of Jewish pride have been beautifully highlighted in its pages. Through these stories, the paper has helped spread encouragement, positivity and the beauty of Jewish life to homes across our greater Hewlett.
The Herald has followed our journey closely, including the growth and building of our Chabad Center for Jewish Life. It has shared our milestones and achievements, and in doing so, has strengthened the presense that our entire community is building together. Every update printed has reminded readers that Jewish life here is vibrant, expanding and full of promise.
From the very beginning of our Chabad presence in Hewlett, the Nassau Herald has helped us reach people: announcing programs, sharing calendars for our Hewlett High School lunches, highlighting children’s events, adult education, Shabbat gatherings, and community initiatives. It has given us a channel to reach Jews of every background, always in a positive and welcoming spirit.
For us, the Nassau Herald is more than newsprint. It is a bridge — connecting people to Jewish life, to one another, and to moments of meaning. As we work every day to spread light, joy and the beauty of Judaism, the paper has been a faithful partner in amplifying that message. We are deeply grateful — and we look forward to continuing to grow together.
We wish the Nassau Herald continued success — may you go from strength to strength.
We would like to start by congratulating the Nassau Herald for reaching this huge milestone. The Nassau Herald has been the community newspaper for all of these decades — when we established Chabad in the Five Towns in 1995, it was the community newspaper and still remains a very distinct community newspaper.
I remember the first interview my wife and I had with Erica from the Herald who encouraged us to utilize this newspaper to help establish the Chabad Center — then a yet to be known entity in the community. It was the Herald that had faith in the Chabad of the Five Towns from its inception, and made an effort to publicize all that was taking place at Chabad, to encourage the Five Towns residents to take advantage of what Chabad had and continues to offer.
When Chabad purchased its building, the former Stetcher and Horowitz School of the Arts, it was the Nassau Herald that spread the word. It gave the feeling that the growth of Chabad and the way it enhances the Five Towns community is something that the Herald was proud of.
Every Jewish holiday, the Herald would place the Chabad activities on the front page, which again reinforced the expression of the community and how proud it was to encourage Chabad.
Whether it was Sukkot festivities, the first public menorah in the Five Towns (and today the largest in Long Island) or any other event, the way to share it with all the backgrounds and affiliations within the community was and remains utilizing the Nassau Herald.
It is also very obvious the mission of this newspaper is to always share a message of positivity reflecting ALL of the Five Towns residents, no matter their affiliation or background; always focusing on the individuals who together make this community the great place that it is.
I would be remiss if I did not mention a very close and dear friend to all, Mayor Andrew Parisi of blessed memory. The longtime mayor of Cedarhurst was so proud of the Chabad Center being established in the village; every article in the Herald meant so much to him.
Recognizing that this community has a large contingency of Jewish residents, the Herald was and still is always very proud to encourage the rabbis to share a thought before each of the Jewish holidays; whether it is Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Passover, or for that matter any other time in the year.
Now as the Herald celebrates its centennial, I take this opportunity to thank the you for your major contribution to enhancing our community and want to wish continued success. We hope and pray that very soon you will be in the leading seat to spread the greatest news of all that the world is waiting for: that the world is one of peace and harmony leading to the ultimate time with the coming of moshiach, the righteous redeemer.
On behalf of everyone at Five Towns Premier, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the Nassau Herald on the extraordinary milestone of 100 years of continuous publication. Reaching a centennial anniversary is a remarkable achievement and a testament to your enduring commitment to excellence in journalism and to the people and communities of Nassau County you have faithfully served for generations.
For a century, the Nassau Herald has been far more than a newspaper. It has been a trusted voice, a chronicler of history and a reflection of the community’s heartbeat. From world events to deeply personal local stories, your reporting has preserved moments that define who we are — capturing not only headlines, but humanity.
At Five Towns Premier, we deeply appreciate the Herald’s dedication to highlighting stories that truly matter. Over the years, your coverage has shined a thoughtful and compassionate spotlight on the many meaningful events and programs within our walls. From our ribbon-cutting celebration to the recognition of our staff through the Healthcare Heroes Award during the height of Covid, your reporting honored the tireless dedication of healthcare workers at a time when the entire community was leaning on them.
We are especially grateful for the role you have played in helping raise awareness throughout the community about the range of care available locally when complex
medical needs arise. Through responsible reporting, you help ensure that individuals and families know where to turn for guidance and support — whether they are navigating rehabilitation following illness or injury, including workers’ compensation–related cases; seeking care for ventilatordependent loved ones; or managing ongoing needs such as dialysis. By sharing these stories, you help make it known that some services are provided to residents within our facility, while others — such as outpatient dialysis — are available to members of the community who live at home and depend on trusted, nearby resources.
When people are facing a medical crisis or sudden change in circumstances, having this awareness in advance can ease what is often an overwhelming and emotional decision-making process. Your reporting plays an important role in helping families feel less alone at those critical moments.
community see how innovative and heartfelt care can truly enrich lives.
Some of your most moving articles have centered on our residents themselves. Your sensitive and powerful reporting on our beloved Holocaust survivors, including the deeply meaningful Yom HaShoah program held in their honor, ensured that their voices, memories and lessons would be shared with the wider community. Likewise, the celebration of our World War II Navy veteran’s 102nd birthday was more than a party — it was a tribute to service, resilience and a life well lived, thoughtfully captured and shared through your pages.
We were especially moved by your coverage of the community-wide healthcare parade during the pandemic — a powerful moment of unity, gratitude, and hope that our residents and staff will never forget. Your ability to capture the emotion of that day reminded readers that even in the darkest times, compassion and solidarity prevail.
We were especially moved by your coverage of the community-wide healthcare parade during the pandemic — a powerful moment of unity, gratitude and hope that our residents and staff will never forget. Your ability to capture the emotion of that day reminded readers that even in the darkest times, compassion and solidarity prevail.
The Nassau Herald has also beautifully shared stories that reflect our commitment to dignity, connection and joy at every stage of life. From highlighting our intergenerational programs that bring young people and seniors together, to showcasing the healing power of our Horseability program, your coverage has helped the
We are also grateful for your coverage of the remarkable rehabilitation journey of an Israeli soldier, a commander in the Israel Defense Forces who lost his leg in combat. That feature highlighted not only advanced clinical care, but the resilience of the human spirit and the profound impact of compassionate healthcare delivered within the community. Through your reporting, you have given visibility to the people, moments and values that define Five Towns Premier — and in doing so, strengthened the bond between our organization and the community we are proud to serve.
As you celebrate 100 years of service, we applaud the editors, reporters, photographers, and staff — past and present — whose dedication has made the Nassau Herald a true pillar of Nassau County. We wish you continued success in the years ahead and look forward to the many meaningful stories still to come.
More than 100 years ago, the Nassau Herald was founded to serve the growing Five Towns.
From the Roaring Twenties to today, we’ve chronicled village decisions, school milestones, houses of worship, local businesses, and the families who shaped this community.
A century later, our commitment to independent, local journalism remains stronger than ever — informing, connecting and strengthening the Five Towns.
As we celebrate our Centennial, join us for the next chapter: 100 Weeks for $100 — a special anniversary subscription offer.
Thank you for being part of our story.
shape
Towns.
Dr. Donald T. Morrish Chief Executive Officer Episcopal Health Services
As the Nassau Herald marks its centennial, it underscores the enduring value of institutions that remain steady, accountable, and responsive over time. For 100 years, this newspaper has chronicled change, elevated local voices, and connected readers through periods of challenge and progress. Healthcare organizations share a similar responsibility: to evolve thoughtfully while remaining accountable to the communities they serve.
Leading a community health system offers a clear vantage point into what families value most in healthcare — dependable access, coordinated services and facilities that reflect the quality and compassion of the care delivered within them. Meeting these expectations is essential to earning trust and sustaining it over time.
At Episcopal Health Services, growth has been shaped by listening, long-term planning and a sustained focus on community need. Over the years, EHS has evolved from a single hospital into an integrated health system, delivering care across multiple
settings.
This progress reflects deliberate investments in clinical programs, expanded access and service coordination — always guided by what best serves our patients. That evolution is visible across our system. Emergency services have expanded to meet rising demand. Outpatient access has grown across primary and specialty care, women’s health, behavioral health, and advanced diagnostics.
Surgical and specialty services now enable more patients to receive high-quality care closer to home, supporting continuity and coordination throughout their healthcare journey.
Education and quality remain central to our mission. The EHS Clinical Learning Center provides an innovative training environment for medical students, featuring state-of-the- art simulation labs and a high-quality outpatient facility. Our Nurse Residency Program is preparing the next generation of nurses, with its inaugural cohort graduating this past November. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to excellence through recertification by The Joint Commission, Baby-Friendly designation, and our Silver-level Person-Centered Care Certification from Planetree.
For 100 years, this newspaper has chronicled change, elevated local voices, and connected readers through periods of challenge and progress. Healthcare organizations share a similar responsibility: to evolve thoughtfully while remaining accountable to the communities they serve.
access, coordination and care that aligns clinical excellence with a strong patient experience. Our new Labor and Delivery Suite offers a modern, person-centered approach to maternal care.
Looking ahead, the Walsh Ambulatory Pavilion will bring primary care, medical and radiation oncology, OB-GYN, behavioral health, and endoscopy together in a single, coordinated outpatient setting. Plans for a new Critical Care Unit will further strengthen our ability to care for patients with complex medical needs.
Through initiatives such as our annual Women’s Health Fair and the Food As Medicine Program, we address broader factors that influence health and well-being and reinforce our role as a trusted community partner.
Beyond our clinical settings, EHS remains actively engaged with the communities we serve — working alongside residents, community organizations and local partners to promote health, education and access. Through initiatives such as our annual Women’s Health Fair and the Food As Medicine Program, we address broader factors that influence health and wellbeing and reinforce our role as a trusted community partner.
As the Nassau Herald enters its second century, Episcopal Health Services remains guided by shared principles of service, accountability and responsive ensuring highquality healthcare for today’s families and generations to come.
Recent and planned investments further reflect our focus on
Biopsy
Ultrasound Low-Dose CT Cardiac Calcium Score Cardiac CT Angiography
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE NASSAU HERALD AS GREEN ACRES MARKS 70 YEARS AND ENTERS A NEW ERA
MACY’S • AKIRA • AMERICAN EAGLE • OLD NAVY • FOOT LOCKER
JD SPORTS • UNIQLO • PRIMARK • H&M • THE CHILDREN’S PLACE
HOLLISTER • LIDS • KAY JEWELERS +MORE
THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY • SEPHORA • SHAKE SHACK
PANDA EXPRESS • SHOPRITE • TONY’S TACOS
DAVE’S HOT CHICKEN • PARIS BAGUETTE +MORE ON THE WAY
Green Acres is changing the landscape of retail with a 400,000 square foot redevelopment. Get ready for more fashion, food, and fun! LEARN MORE
