Sam Kuckley & Roberta Alpert
Honorees
It is good be lucky
It is better to realize that you are lucky
In terms of all of the important things that matter in my life, I have been extremely lucky and have realized my good fortune.
Approximately 49 years ago, in April, I met Roberta. I was smitten right from the beginning. She was very smart, very beautiful, and over the next eight years, our love for each other grew. We got married and had an amazingly wonderful son, Josh, who grew to be an exceptional man. He married a wonderful woman, Stacy Kramer, and they have been blessed with Theo Jacob, a beautiful baby boy who is the love of our lives.
I grew up in a traditional Jewish home. Daily prayers and Shabbat were and are very important to me. It was not until we joined Town and Village Synagogue that we learned the importance of community. This is our other home, where many of our fellow congregants became our best friends. Over our approximately 36 years of membership, our involvement grew, not only at Shabbat services, but helping where we could. After we joined T and V, I was eventually elected to the Board and more recently, elected President. Roberta was always my advisor, exceedingly helpful in terms of discussing nonconfidential matters relating to the Synagogue.
Roberta is a very talented and accomplished professional. When we met, Roberta was completing her masters degree from NYU in biology. She was a basic research scientist at Cornell, studying nerve regeneration. After Josh was born, Roberta decided to change careers and to take a second masters at NYU in healthcare management. This led her to her eventually becoming a member of a senior management team at a number of healthcare related companies. Two of her specialties were problem solving as well as organizational structures.
My professional interests have always focused on real estate. I have an undergraduate degree from Syracuse in real estate and finance. Despite an initial inability to access a position in the field, life is serendipitous, and eventually I started my career as the Director of Research at the Real Estate Board of New York, the major industry organization in New York at the time. Over the last approximately 50 years, I became a valuation expert and Real Estate consultant with the following professional designations: MAI, CRE, and FRICS. Over my career, I have been very well known in the New York City real estate community as a well-respected professional. I was elected president of two local chapters of national organizations and was appointed chair of the Ethics Committee of the Counselors of Real Estate (part of NAR). My last 22 years of employment were with TIAA/Nuveen, a one trillion dollar private pension plan, working in real estate risk management.
With the recent birth of our grandson, Theo Jacob, I knew it was time to step down to devote whatever time was needed to help with and enjoy this new blessing in our life.
It has been an honor to serve Town & Village Synagogue over the years, especially as President. This is an honor that I neither sought nor wanted. We are grateful to have collaborated with exceptional clergy, Rabbi Sebert and Cantor Postman, who both worked tirelessly on our behalf. I was extremely fortunate to have exceptionally strong colleagues on the Executive and the Board. I am extremely grateful to have had Nina Lehman as mentor and advisor. Her guidance and leadership was and is exceptional. I did my best at the helm of this wonderful organization and look forward to helping the next leader of our exceptional K’helah.
Samuel Kuckley and Roberta Alpert
It is better to realize that you are lucky
In terms of all of the important things that matter in my life, I have been extremely lucky and have realized my good fortune.
Approximately 49 years ago, in April, I met Roberta. I was smitten right from the beginning. She was very smart, very beautiful, and over the next eight years, our love for each other grew. We got married and had an amazingly wonderful son, Josh, who grew to be an exceptional man. He married a wonderful woman, Stacy Kramer, and they have been blessed with Theo Jacob, a beautiful baby boy who is the love of our lives.
I grew up in a traditional Jewish home. Daily prayers and Shabbat were and are very important to me. It was not until we joined Town and Village Synagogue that we learned the importance of community. This is our other home, where many of our fellow congregants became our best friends. Over our approximately 36 years of membership, our involvement grew, not only at Shabbat services, but helping where we could. After we joined T and V, I was eventually elected to the Board and more recently, elected President. Roberta was always my advisor, exceedingly helpful in terms of discussing nonconfidential matters relating to the Synagogue.
Roberta is a very talented and accomplished professional. When we met, Roberta was completing her masters degree from NYU in biology. She was a basic research scientist at Cornell, studying nerve regeneration. After Josh was born, Roberta decided to change careers and to take a second masters at NYU in healthcare management. This led her to her eventually becoming a member of a senior management team at a number of healthcare related companies. Two of her specialties were problem solving as well as organizational structures.
My professional interests have always focused on real estate. I have an undergraduate degree from Syracuse in real estate and finance. Despite an initial inability to access a position in the field, life is serendipitous, and eventually I started my career as the Director of Research at the Real Estate Board of New York, the major industry organization in New York at the time. Over the last approximately 50 years, I became a valuation expert and Real Estate consultant with the following professional designations: MAI, CRE, and FRICS. Over my career, I have been very well known in the New York City real estate community as a well-respected professional. I was elected president of two local chapters of national organizations and was appointed chair of the Ethics Committee of the Counselors of Real Estate (part of NAR). My last 22 years of employment were with TIAA/Nuveen, a one trillion dollar private pension plan, working in real estate risk management.
With the recent birth of our grandson, Theo Jacob, I knew it was time to step down to devote whatever time was needed to help with and enjoy this new blessing in our life.
It has been an honor to serve Town & Village Synagogue over the years, especially as President. This is an honor that I neither sought nor wanted. We are grateful to have collaborated with exceptional clergy, Rabbi Sebert and Cantor Postman, who both worked tirelessly on our behalf. I was extremely fortunate to have exceptionally strong colleagues on the Executive and the Board. I am extremely grateful to have had Nina Lehman as mentor and advisor. Her guidance and leadership was and is exceptional. I did my best at the helm of this wonderful organization and look forward to helping the next leader of our exceptional K’helah.
Samuel Kuckley and Roberta Alpert