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04-29-2012, 01:23 PM
April 29, 2012 11:06 am | Author: Jerry Berger
More than 350 guests arrived Saturday night at the Peabody for the Variety Club gala dinner and to be entertained by the high octane, musical muse Diana Ross and helped bring the total take for Variety Club week to at least $3.5 million. Crisp as a Pringle’s store, there were some who rated high on the sizzle-ometer, others stiffly embraced their spouses, cheeseballs of yore were plucked out of anonymity to re-acclaim fame. Philanthropic dynamo Michael Neidorf of Centene was chosen “Man of the Year,” while Thelma Steward was crowned “Woman of the Year.” Steward’s hub David Steward’s World Wide Technology underwrote the evening along with Centene. With more energy than winners of “Dancing with the Stars,” philanthropic dynamos Marilyn and former Belgium ambassador Sam Fox were embraced by Variety execs as were former ambassador to Hungary Bert Walker and his wife, Carol. There were some younger guests, who appeared as abstracts such as Monica and Peter Neidorf, who circled their mom and dad, Neomi and Mike. [[Monica heads MLN public relations.) Centene’s mouthpiece Deanne Lane remained mum to the media and irresponsibly shunned any contact with reporters. [[Nice job, D.A.!) Longtime Variety emissary Jan Albus and her husband, Larry appeared as works of art themselves. Jan set the stage for the event and had arranged FOX2 to campaign for the evening over a few months. The station’s chief and his wife, Spencer and Laura Koch along with news director Audrey Prywich - with her hub, Rick Powers of Fox Sports Midwest - got muchos kudos for their generous contribution of air time. Also on hand were FOX2 vet Tom O’Neal with his love, Cheryle. Jimmy Choo stiletto heels and an Armani outfit was worn by trend-savvy Donna Wilkinson, who was cornered with St. Louis Science Center prez and CEO Bert Vescolani, who offered a preview of things to come: “Small Nano World” and a documentary about the Arctic, voiced by Meryl Streep and Paul McCartney - all on the Omnimax screen. Diana Ross’ voice retained the characteristic depth and clarity, that combined – sounded equally commanding and accommodating in numbers such as “Where Did Our Love Go?,” which brought down the house. Dr. Bob Packman was on hand with his partner of 33 years, Len Powers, followed by attorney Martin Green and Penney Poole. During the evening, a donor who sought anonymity contributed $1 million – a challenge to support the Variety Adventure Camp. Then, another matched it with a $100k contribution. I’ve learned osmotically that the Variety Club has helped children with physical and mental disabilities for more than 80 years, and, the money stays in our town. There’s no such thing as too much, especially when supporting the Variety Club.
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More than 350 guests arrived Saturday night at the Peabody for the Variety Club gala dinner and to be entertained by the high octane, musical muse Diana Ross and helped bring the total take for Variety Club week to at least $3.5 million. Crisp as a Pringle’s store, there were some who rated high on the sizzle-ometer, others stiffly embraced their spouses, cheeseballs of yore were plucked out of anonymity to re-acclaim fame. Philanthropic dynamo Michael Neidorf of Centene was chosen “Man of the Year,” while Thelma Steward was crowned “Woman of the Year.” Steward’s hub David Steward’s World Wide Technology underwrote the evening along with Centene. With more energy than winners of “Dancing with the Stars,” philanthropic dynamos Marilyn and former Belgium ambassador Sam Fox were embraced by Variety execs as were former ambassador to Hungary Bert Walker and his wife, Carol. There were some younger guests, who appeared as abstracts such as Monica and Peter Neidorf, who circled their mom and dad, Neomi and Mike. [[Monica heads MLN public relations.) Centene’s mouthpiece Deanne Lane remained mum to the media and irresponsibly shunned any contact with reporters. [[Nice job, D.A.!) Longtime Variety emissary Jan Albus and her husband, Larry appeared as works of art themselves. Jan set the stage for the event and had arranged FOX2 to campaign for the evening over a few months. The station’s chief and his wife, Spencer and Laura Koch along with news director Audrey Prywich - with her hub, Rick Powers of Fox Sports Midwest - got muchos kudos for their generous contribution of air time. Also on hand were FOX2 vet Tom O’Neal with his love, Cheryle. Jimmy Choo stiletto heels and an Armani outfit was worn by trend-savvy Donna Wilkinson, who was cornered with St. Louis Science Center prez and CEO Bert Vescolani, who offered a preview of things to come: “Small Nano World” and a documentary about the Arctic, voiced by Meryl Streep and Paul McCartney - all on the Omnimax screen. Diana Ross’ voice retained the characteristic depth and clarity, that combined – sounded equally commanding and accommodating in numbers such as “Where Did Our Love Go?,” which brought down the house. Dr. Bob Packman was on hand with his partner of 33 years, Len Powers, followed by attorney Martin Green and Penney Poole. During the evening, a donor who sought anonymity contributed $1 million – a challenge to support the Variety Adventure Camp. Then, another matched it with a $100k contribution. I’ve learned osmotically that the Variety Club has helped children with physical and mental disabilities for more than 80 years, and, the money stays in our town. There’s no such thing as too much, especially when supporting the Variety Club.
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