Brooke Shields Shines At Solar One's Fall Equinox Celebration

Just think how we needed solar power after last year’s Superstorm Sandy. Thanks to the coordination of Solar One, New York City’s Green Energy, Arts and Education Center, solar-powered generators powered 17 blacked-out sites in the Rockaways, Red Hook, New Jersey, Staten Island, and Long Island.

Now, when Solar 2 — the first fully resilient, LEED-Platinum, energy-positive, water reuse prototype for green living — is built on the East River at 23rd Street, it will be a template for living on the waterfront in this new age of rising tides. At a somewhat less green structure, the Mandarin Oriental, Solar supporters gathered for a “Fall Equinox Celebration” Chaired by Barbara Dana Tollis and James Figg III, and produced by Polly Onet’s Ober, Onet & Associates. The night honored 2013 Sustainability Achievement Award Recipients Glen C. Dailey, Managing Director and Head of Prime Brokerage, Jefferies LLC, and Jeanine Behr Getz, Author and Founder, Kids Think Big, LLC.

Ramsey Frank, Suzanne Frank, Jeanine Behr Getz, and Robert H Getz. (Photo: Annie Watt)

Greg Kelly, Co-Anchor of “Good Day New York” on Fox 5/NY emceed. Vice Chairs were: Joyce and Mike Critelli, William Douglass, Suzanne Frank and Ramsey Frank, Helen Getz and Leland Getz, Robert H. Getz, Gabrielle Guttman, Maritess Lilien and Jarrett Lilien, Amy Pennington and Brian Pennington, Michael Scanlon, Rhonda Sherwood and Dave Sherwood, Melissa Thors and Thor Thors, Barbara Winston. Brooke Shields, Melissa Morris and Chappy Morris, Jean Shafiroff, Lucia Hwang Gordon, Robert Albertson, and Evan Gevarter were among the crowd.

“My audience is usually five to ten year olds,” laughed Getz, whose award-winning book “Think Green,” seeks to motivate the next generation to conserve and advocate for the environment.

A sea of hedge fund types stepped up to support Dailey, honored for turning the prime brokerage business paperless, in the mid 90s.

Sandra Dailey, Glen C Dailey, Michael Dailey, and Marissa Magrino. (Photo: Annie Watt)

“When the internet came out we were primebroker.com,” Dailey told us, “the first prime broker to go on the internet and turn it paperless. It was a big advantage for us. When you have to print everything, it takes a long time, no matter how fast your printers are. And to be able to do it and deliver everything electronically, it made a world of difference. So, we were green before our time.”

Dailey and those around him obviously like to give back. Rob Davis, who introduced him, had founded Hedge Funds Cares in 1999, now known as Help for Children.

“When you look at Solar 1 and all they’re doing with the education of kids,” Dailey continued, “kids are much more aware of the environment than, maybe, we were growing up. It’s education, arts, music, and the use of solar power that makes this a good cause to be involved in. And when Solar 2 rises on the East River, it’ll be a destination for a lot of school kids and around the world.”