Honoring Stamford's Citizens of the Year

STAMFORD, CT - Tickets are still available for the 2016 Stamford Citizen of the Year dinner where Stamford residents Jay Sandak and Mary Sommer will be honored for their three decades of community involvement.

The 2016 Stamford Citizen of the Year Dinner will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 18, at The Italian Center of Stamford, 1620 Newfield Ave., Stamford. This annual event has been sponsored on behalf of the City of Stamford by the Jewish War Veterans Fred Robbins Post 142 since its founding in 1945.

According to stamfordcoty.org, "Their impact on our community has enabled each and every one of us to benefit from their wisdom, philanthropy and volunteerism whether we're aware of it or not."

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Sandak is a partner at the Stamford law firm Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey and president of the Herbert & Nell Singer Foundation. His involvement in Stamford has been focused on improving the health, safety and quality of human services for people living and working in the city.

He has served on Board and Committee positions with the Child Guidance Center, Hands for Life, Shelter for the Homeless/Pacific House and United Way of Stamford to the Stamford EMS Foundation, where as its first Board president he was instrumental in introducing paramedic corps services for the city.

Sommer is a state Superior Court Judge and is known for her passion on children's mental health and legal rights, education and public-private initiatives. In addition to the organizations she has served on advisory boards for child advocacy programs, juvenile justice activities and prison literacy programs, Sommer also has been a board member and supporter of the Child Guidance Center, past president of the school board at King & Low Heywood Thomas School, and serves on the Boards of Connecticut Appleseed Foundation for Law and Justice, Ferguson Library Foundation and Hope for Haiti, Inc.

Both have served as Stamford's corporation counsel and live in the Westover area of the city where they have raised three sons and are known for having turned their home into a huge bakery for 10 years for the Jackie Robinson Park of Fame Christmas celebration.

Tickets start at $125 and may be purchased at http://stamfordcoty.org.

Photo credit: Jay Sandak and Mary Sommer via stamfordcoty.org.