May 5, 1999

Ramapo College’s 17^th Annual Distinguished Citizens Dinner Raises $240,000

(Mahwah) –Attendees at Ramapo College’s Annual Distinguished Citizens Dinner cheered loudly as Dr. Robert A. Scott, college president, announced that the event raised $240,000, a record fundraiser by the Ramapo College Foundation. Scott said that this is the highest total raised in the dinner’s 17-year history. One hundred seventy-two thousand dollars is designated for student scholarships, faculty research awards and grants and $70,000 is to be used for a special endowment fund for minority students.

The Foundation also presented a check in the amount of $1.19 million to the College as their annual contribution to benefit student scholarships, college projects and faculty development opportunities at Ramapo.

This year’s four distinguished honorees were Michael H. Dale, president of Jaguar Cars, the North American subsidiary of Jaguar Cars Ltd. located in Mahwah; Donna A. Knutsen (Ramapo ’77), vice president of accounting for the Fountain European Day Spa in Ramsey; Tsutomu Mitome, excutive director of SEIKO CORPORATION (Tokyo) and president of SEIKO CORPORATION OF AMERICA in Mahwah; and J.M. Robinson, chairman, president and CEO of Footstar, Inc. in Mahwah.

The event, which is becoming known as one of the more elegant black tie evenings in northern New Jersey, drew a crowd of 600 to the Sheraton International Crossroads Hotel on March 6 for a gala evening of dinner and entertainment by rhythm and blues artists, The Drifters. Guests polished up their swing steps as they danced to nostalgia and contemporary music supplied by the band, Steppin’ Out.

Other announcements made at the dinner included the completion of Ramapo’s newest facility, the $14.5 million Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts, which will officially open to students in the fall.