Third Ave. Merchants pay tribute to business pioneers
Salon owner, hospital execs, building contractor among honorees
For 20 years, the Merchants of Third Avenue organization has been handing out awards to business leaders who are pioneers of the ongoing effort to expand the types of stores on the famous southern Brooklyn commercial strip. The organization, which represents hundreds of store owners on Bay Ridge’s Third Avenue from 65th Street to Marine Avenue, hosts a cocktail reception each year, where the Pioneers of Third Avenue are presented with awards.
This year yielded a bumper crop of recipients – 10 in all – as the Merchants group honored not only business leaders, but community activists who have worked to make Bay Ridge a better place to live and work.
The 2013 Pioneers of Third Avenue were the guests of honor at a cocktail reception held Oct. 28 at Cafe Remy. The restaurant was jammed packed with merchants, elected officials, cops, and members of civic organizations all of whom had come to see the winners pick up their plaques and to munch on cuisine from a variety of restaurants in the “Another Taste of Third Avenue” buffet that the Merchants group holds each year along with the pioneer party.
The award winners are: Charles Elias, owner of the Charles Elias Salon; Danielle Jabour-Saviolakis, real estate saleswoman at Jabour Realty; Courtney Sessa Flynn, director at McLaughlin and Sons Funeral Home; Ralph Succar, owner of Empire State Development LLC; Myles Davis, senior vice president of corporate services at Lutheran Medical Center; Douglas Jablon, executive vice president of Maimonides Medical Center; Larry Morrish, an independent business consultant; Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; and Karen Tadross, producer of Ridge Chorale/Jeff Samaha Theater Productions.