Billionaires and Socials at Hamptons Hospital Gala

Despite the iffy weather, 600 of the Hamptons busiest and brightest, including billionaire John Paulson,  turned up for the annual Southampton Hospital fundraising gala.The event is traditionally one of the highlights of the Hamptons season and a fundraiser for a very important local cause—Southampton Hospital is the only major facility serving the East End. For factoid lovers, it’s also worth nothing that SH is where Jacqueline Kennedy (then Jacqueline Bouvier) was born.

Benefit Chairs Hollis and Jim Forbes and Bill Ford and Marigay McKee, president and CEO of Southampton Hospital Robert Chaloner, and Southampton Hospital Foundation president Steve Bernstein welcomed guests to the fete, which was the 58th year that the annual Summer Party has been held.  The night raised over $1.3 million to provide support for the Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Department, the sole provider of emergency care on the South Fork. It treats more than 25,000 people annually.

NBC’s Chuck Scarborough, a Southampton resident who gives generously of his time to local causes, emceed and brought out supporters including Paulson, Southampton Mayor Mark Epley and his wife Marianne, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, Julie Ratner, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, Stony Brook’s Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky and Douglas Elliman Real Estate Chairman Howard M. Lorber, who is also president of the Board of Trustees of Southampton Hospital Foundation, Jay Schneiderman, Robret Zimmerman, Steven Bellone, Lucia Hwong Gordon, Sara Herbert-Galloway, David Greenberg, Alina Cho, Congressman Lee and Diana Zeldin, and Victor de Souza, Philanthropist, author and longtime Southampton Hospital supporter, Jean Shafiroff, attended the event in an original Victor de Souza gown. Shafiroff has chaired the event three times before and is its most successful benefit chair to date, raising a total of $5.4 million dollars for the hospital over the years. (In June, Shafiroff opened her home to 100 fellow supporters for the announcement of Southampton Hospital’s Phillips Family Cancer Center. The cocktail party celebrated the Phillips family and Southampton Hospital for recognizing the need for a cancer treatment center in the Hamptons.)

As guests sat down for dinner, Scarborough thanked everyone for attending and for their support of the hospital, before Jim and Hollis Forbes and Marigay McKee stood to say, “What an honor it has been to work with the dedicated team at Southampton Hospital.”

Southampton Hospital is recognized as a provisional Level III adult trauma center, the first one on Long Island’s East End. This designation enables the hospital to provide care to the most critically injured patients.  During the summer season when the regional population swells, having a trauma care center close by and accessible has been vital. 

The party tent was gorgeous, masterminded by Lawrence Scott Events, with a decor highlighted by  table centerpieces with orchids and gold shells. Music was provided by Groove Society.