By: Lieba Nesis
The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation held its 18th annual Hamptons Happening at María and Ken Fishel’s Bridgehampton Estate with VIP cocktails beginning at 6 PM. The Waxman foundation founded in 1976 has collected over $100 million to spearhead research by 200 doctors focused on eradicating cancer by identifying and correcting abnormal gene function that causes this dreaded disease. Maria and Ken Fishel have donated significant time and money to the organization as they themselves lost three parents to the disease.
For those in the Hamptons who don’t know María and Ken, Ken is the head of Renaissance Properties, a family-run organization that owns more than one million square feet of commercial space in New York and South Florida. Ken and his beautiful wife María generously open their 16-acre estate in the Hamptons for six weekends during the summer so Hamptonites can enjoy Polo on July 16 and 23rd and the Chabad of Sag Harbor’s dinner on August 14th. Last weekend they hosted a “Diamonds” party for July 4th which was the most extravagant and talked about event I have witnessed-even for the jaded Hamptons. Master party planner Preston Bailey quarterbacked the holiday celebration which included a massive tent containing makeshift chandeliers, floors, wallpaper and lavish entertainment.
For the Waxman shindig María’s favorite designer, Valentino, dressed her in a resplendent purple sequin Valentino gown. Residing with them for the weekend I witnessed firsthand the meticulous planning that goes into this event as crews began setting up the tent and food stands Friday morning. Unsurprisingly, this perfectly orchestrated evening is planned six months prior as photographer extraordinaire Lenny Stucker witnessed when he arrived for the photo shoot at 5:30 PM.
Despite the heavy competition from four Hampton events on July 9th over 400 people attended with tickets priced at $425 for those older than 40, $200 for 40 and under and $1,000 for VIP’s. Considering the plentiful food stands which included samplings from Barney Greengrass, Philippe Chow, Tommy Bahamas and T Bar along with a top rate DJ and the perfume filled goody bags this is one of the great bargains of the Hamptons where prices for galas start at $1500.
The manager at Tommy Bahamas, Christopher McLeod recounted arriving from Times Square that morning with the food packed in ice and a thermometer at 34 degrees to ensure the tuna and meat tacos would be fresh and savory.
The honorees were similarly top tier with Cristian Notari the CEO of Max Mara, joining CEO of Brown Harris Stevens Bess Freedman along with famed Chef Julian Medina, and CIO of Brean Investment Group Mark Melchiorre. Max Mara one of the foremost privately held clothing companies sent its CEO Cristian Notari as a representative of the founding Maramotti family. In 2014, the last year Mara made its revenues public, they reported income of $1.6 billion. Actress Zendaya is now their main global ambassador as she dons one winning look after another.
Notari graduated from Bologna Business University and applied for a job as CEO 24 years ago and the rest is history-with Max Mara now employing 4-5,000 individuals. The honorees speeches took place via video so they were mercifully short, the last thing people want during a crisp summer day are lengthy orations. Emcee and CBS2 newscaster Chris Wragge praised the organization for raising $6 million over the past 18 years at this Hamptons event alone noting much had changed since he became active 12 years ago when he was single with no kids; as he introduced the audience to his wife and beautiful 6-year-old son Christian.
Samuel Waxman later spoke of the progress being made by big pharma in cancer research calling it a “disease of aging”, with incidences increasing as the population gets older. He concluded with a presentation of awards to the illustrious honorees. The Fishels were also gifted a Tiffany box after Ken successfully bid on a steak dinner for 12 at Gallagher’s and an hour performance by foodie magician Josh Beckerman. Beckerman was hired for the evening and wowed my friend Lori Scott by guessing the very unusual name of her dog Qiesta.
The roaring evening concluded with a bang as the room transformed into a huge dance floor as guests, young and old, gleefully danced to DJ spun tunes until 11 PM.
