Meltzer, Lippe Donates $150K to Touro, Hofstra, Huntington

Long Island Business News
By: Rose-Robin Lamb
7/14/00

Rather than shell out thousands for an expensive anniversary bash, the partners at the Mineola law firm of Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Schlissel, LLP decided to share the wealth.

The firm donated $50,000 each to three local causes: the Tuoro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, Hofstra Law School and Huntington Hospital.

"We decided the best way to celebrate would be to give back to the community, to the people who helped us achieve what we did in 30 years," said Lew Meltzer, the firm's founder and managing member. "We felt this was a better way than to just have a party. We wanted to so something meaningful."

The Huntington Hospital donation is the largest to date in the new campaign by the hospital to raise funds for a cardiac catheterization laboratory. Catheterization is the use or insertion of a tubular device into a duct, blood vessel, hollow organ or body cavity for injecting or withdrawing fluids for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.

The new lab will cost an estimated $2.5 million, according to Robert Mottola, Huntington Hospital's vice president for development and community relations. It will be located on the third floor of the south wing of the hospital, displacing several units, including those of social work and utilization review. The hospital hasn't yet decided where those offices will be relocated. Construction will begin this month, and the lab is scheduled to open in late December.

Upon completion, the hospital expects between 850 and 900 patients to utilize the lab in its first year. These patients were previously referred to St. Francis, Winthrop and the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System.

Meltzer has signed on as chairman of the hospital's fund-raising effort, which will include a July 31 golf outing at Brookville Country Club, expected to bring in about 350,000, and an Italian Fest on October 14 at Co-Co's Water Café in Huntington.

Tuoro will use the donation as part of its campaign for the construction of the school's new campus in Central Islip. Currently, Meltzer Lippe is the lead donor in that program, according to Linda Howard Weissman, assistant dean for institutional advancement at the school.

Tuoro's ultimate goal is $25 million, the total anticipated cost for construction of the new campus. To date, the school has raised $8.5 million through government and private donations, according to Weissman. She anticipates the balance will be met through the sale of the school's current building in Huntington, as well as additional fundraising and a construction loan.

The school has established two recognized levels of giving, as part of its capital campaign. The first level of $50,000 has just Meltzer Lippe as donor. A "number of firms" have made donations at the second level of $25,000.

According to Weissman, Meltzer Lippe will be given the chance to "name" a classroom. She believes the firm may opt to name it after a deceased partner, but declined to speculate on a specific name.

Calls to Hofstra were not returned by presstime.