The accolades keep rolling in for Garden City residents as Robert L. Cunningham will be awarded the Community Achievement Award by the Garden City Chamber of Commerce. Cunningham will be getting honored on Friday evening, May 8, at the Garden City Hotel. It will be during this time from 7 p.m. to midnight that the Chamber will be holding its premiere event, the 13th annual Pineapple Ball celebrating the alliance and vitality of business and community.
Established in 1974, the Community Achievement Award commemorates outstanding professionalism and major contributions to the Village of Garden City and beyond through one’s position or vocation. Cunningham will share honors at the Pineapple Ball with Citizen of the Year Vinny Muldoon; Business Person of the Year Patrick Longo; and Dr. Robert A. Scott, recipient of the prestigious President’s Award.
Among Cunningham’s extensive community involvements are service as a director and president of the Garden City Central Property Owners’ Association from 1974 to 1976. Most noteworthy is his longtime service on the Village Board of Zoning Appeals for the past 30 years. He served as commissioner in 1984 and as board chairperson for the past 25 years.
“Bob Cunningham has served the Village of Garden City with integrity and high ideals about community living as chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals. He treats every individual who appears before the board with respect and a good deal of patience. It has been an honor to serve on his board for more than 20 years,” said fellow ZBA member, Michael T. Schroder, Esq.
Another longtime member of the board of appeals, John G. Villanella, spoke of Bob Cunningham as “a lifelong Garden City resident with an unsurpassed knowledge and love of the village. As chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, he works tirelessly to protect the best of its traditions and to project this beautiful and special place successfully into the future. Bob is an exemplar of the volunteer spirit that makes Garden City such a wonderful place to live.”
Also, within the community, Cunningham has been active in the St. Joseph’s Church Community blood drive/bank for the past 15 years. For 11 years, he ran the “Help Us Help” job program in conjunction with the Garden City Community Church. He had been an active member of the American Red Cross from 1985 to 1998, had served as a Republican Committeeman for 24 years and been a Little League coach.
Bob Cunningham had been the cofounder of Blue Skies Marketing, a financial education marketing firm representing publishers of unique information products for investors whose clients include Oppenheimer Funds, Vanguard and State Street Bank. He has been admissions area representative/recruiter for Arcadia University from 2005 to the present and from 1999 to 2013, Cunningham had been part-time assistant in the Graduate School of Business at Adelphi University. Bob Cunningham and his wife Patricia have three children and five grandchildren.
To receive an invitation to the Pineapple Ball, or to receive full event information including sponsorships and Journal ads, please call Tracey Gittere of Legendary Events at 516-222-0550 or visit www.gardencitychamberofcommerce.org.
