Philanthropic Couple Joan and William H. Brakman, Jr.
to Receive 2008 Model of Faith Award at C.W. Post

Brookville, N.Y. – Port Washington residents Joan M. and William H. Brakman, Jr., will be this year’s recipients of the Mary M. Lai Model of Faith Award at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 5 p.m.

The award is “given to an outstanding Catholic who represents what it means to be Catholic in their professional life and to be a model for student Catholics on campus,” said the Rev. Ted Brown, Catholic chaplain at the C.W. Post Campus.

The award is named for Mary M. Lai, Long Island University’s vice president emerita for finance and treasurer and a devout Catholic.

The Model of Faith Award Dinner is also the campus Catholic parish’s major fundraiser. Tickets to the dinner cost $150 per person. The event begins with a special mass at the C.W. Post Interfaith Center at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and the award ceremony in the Interfaith Center Chapel’s lounge. The ceremony will include performances and speeches by students.

Married for 50 years with two children and four grandchildren, the Brakmans are active volunteers who say their shared faith has been the foundation of their life together and the source of their strength as they faced personal and professional trials. They work to support Mommas House – homes for single mothers and their babies, and have been leaders in their parish’s Pre-Cana marriage program.

Joan is a former teacher in the Roslyn School District and student teacher supervisor at New York University and is currently the chair of the community gifts committee for St. Francis Hospital’s capital campaign and previously has been president of the Guild of St. Francis Hospital. A lector for over 30 years, she has chaired or co-chaired committees for the Catholic Ministries Appeal, has served as secretary and president of the Lay Council at St. Paul the Apostle in Brookville, appeared in parish theatre group productions and ran the largest fundraiser for the Marian Guild of her parish, St. Paul the Apostle Church in Brookville. She is an active member of Marymount Manhattan College’s alumni association and was the historian of the Village of Brookville.

Bill, who has worked as an auditor, computer consultant and vice president and CFO of a commercial printing company, founded William H. Brakman Associates, a consulting operation which helped organizations migrate from centralized equipment to local mini- and micro-computers. A member of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club for 55 years, he is the secretary and acting chair of the Manhasset Bay Sailing Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting sailing among young people and has recently joined the Nautical Advisory Committee of the Port Washington Public Library.

For more information about the Mary M. Lai Model of Faith Award or the April 13 event, call Father Ted Brown at 516-299-2229 or e-mail ted.brown@liu.edu.

Posted: March 27, 2008