Bay Ridge

Brooklyn Eagle publisher wins Pioneer Award from Bay Ridge biz group

September 23, 2014 By Paula Katinas and Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Bob Howe (left), president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, with Pioneer winners Ted Mann (second from left), Kimberly Fasano, and Michael Esposito. Also pictured is Merchants Co-Treasurer Brian Chin (right).
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Dozier Hasty, publisher of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the only major daily newspaper focusing solely on the borough, has been named one of the winners of the Merchants of Third Avenue Pioneer Civic Service Awards for 2014. The announcement was made at the Merchants meeting Monday night in Bay Ridge.

Hasty and his fellow honorees will receive their awards at a cocktail reception on Monday, Oct. 27, at the Bay Ridge Manor, 476 76th St., at 7 p.m.

The Pioneer Award is given to individuals who have been at the vanguard of business achievement and who have worked tirelessly to promote Third Avenue, according to leaders of the Merchants. The organization represents some 300 store owners on Third Avenue from 69th Street to 97th Street.

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The Merchants group has been handing out Pioneer Awards for 20 years.

Along with Hasty, the Class of 2014 Pioneers for civic achievement includes: Victoria Schneps-Yunis and Joshua Schneps, co-publishers of the Home Reporter and Sunset News and Brooklyn Spectator; Kimberly Fasano, an account executive with Strauss Paper Co., who is being cited for her work with Reaching Out Community Services, a Brooklyn food pantry; Fran Vella-Marrone, president of the Dyker Heights Civic Association; and Dilia Schack, a longtime member of the Ragamuffin Parade Committee.

At the Sept. 22 meeting, which took place at Omonia Café at 7612 Third Ave., the Merchants also named the winners of their Pioneer Awards for business. The winners are Rawia Bishara, owner of Tanoreen Restaurant and her daughter Jumana Bishara; and Ted Mann and Michael Esposito, owners of Cebu Restaurant.

In addition, Merchants Executive Secretary Charles Otey said that a surprise Pioneer Award winner will be announced in mid-October.

Otey said the theme of the Oct. 27 event will be “Our Newspapers, Our Community.”

Hasty, Schack, Joshua Schneps and Rawia Bishara were unable to attend Monday’s meeting.

Mann and Esposito, both of whom started out as teenage busboys in other restaurants in Bay Ridge, said they were thrilled to be named Pioneers. “It means a lot. We look up to you,” Esposito told the Merchants members. “It has been incredible,” Mann said. The two owners have since opened up successful eateries in other parts of Brooklyn, but Mann said Bay Ridge remains close to their hearts because it’s where they started out. “We have always felt most connected to this one,” he said, referring to Cebu.

Jumana Bishara said her mother enjoys her work at Tanoreen, the Middle Eastern flavored restaurant she opened on Third Avenue 16 years ago. “She’s still in the kitchen cooking every day after all these years,” Bishara said.

Vella-Marrone thanked the Merchants group for recognizing community leaders. “I have been active in this community for 30 years. We’re here to serve others,” she told Merchants members.

 


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