BRUCE COLLINS is the co-chair of the Library’s Long Island Collection and chair of its acquisitions committee. As a life-long resident of the community, he has served as chair of the East Hampton Town 350th Anniversary Committee and has been Town Supervisor, Chairman of the Bank of the Hamptons, a director of the Suffolk County National Bank and a trustee and Vice President of the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation.

DENNIS FABISZAK is the Director of the East Hampton Library.

TOM TWOMEY, the Library Board of Managers’ late Chairman, for whom this series is named, endowed this annual lecture devoted to aspects of local East End history. This is the first in what is to become an annual event. Tom also was the editor of a multi-volume history of East Hampton, the sixth volume of which was launched this season at the inaugural event for this group of programs.

ROBERT LIPSYTE, a long-time sports reporter and columnist for the New York Times and a former Ombudsman for ESPN was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary in 1992 and won Columbia University’s Meyer Berger Award for Distinguished Reporting, in 1966 and 1996. His books include the recent memoir,An Accidental Sportswriter, SportsWorld: An American Dreamland, and Dick Gregory’s autobiography. In 2001, he won the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for lifetime contribution to Young Adult Literature. His best-selling teen-age novels includes The Contender  and One Fat Summer. He lives in Manhattan and Shelter Island with his wife, the writer Lois B. Morris.

PAUL GOLDBERGER, now a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, was the New Yorker’s architecture critic from 1997-2011, where he wrote the “Skyline” column. From q973-1997, he was the architecture critic for The New York Times, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Paul served as dean of the Parsons School of Design and has written several books, including Why Architecture Matters, Building Up and Tearing Down; and Reflections on the Age of Architecture. His biography of the architect Frank Gehry will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in September. 

ROBERT BOYNTON directs the graduate Literary Reportage concentration at the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He is the author The New New Journalism and his forthcoming book, The Invitation Only Zone on North Korea’s abduction of dozens of Japanese nationals held captive in secret for 25 years. He has written about culture and ideas for the New Yorker, Harper’s, Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, and other publications. 

TIM BISHOP served as U.S. Representative for New York’s 1st Congressional District from 2003 to 2015. He is a twelfth generation resident of Southampton. He has been named Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Public Service on the Long Island campus of  St. Joseph’s College

RICHARD RAVITCH is an American politician and businessman who served asLieutenant Governor of New York from 2009 to 2010. He was appointed to the position in July 2009 by New York Governor David Paterson. A native of New York City, he earned a law degree from Yale Law School and has worked in his family’s real estate development business, a number of government and government-appointed positions, including with the New York State Urban Development Corporation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and in private industry, including tenures as chairman of the Bowery Savings Bank and as the chief owner representative in labor negotiations for Major League Baseball. His most recent book is So Much To Do: A Full LIfe of Business, Politics and Confronting Fiscal Crises.

LARRY CANTWELL is the Supervisor of the Town of East Hampton, having taken office in January 2014. In his first year, he presided over a Town Board that preserved open space in every hamlet of Town, prioritized coastal resiliency planning and shoreline protection, established the ambitious goal of making East Hampton energy independent and upgraded infrastructure, among other achievements. As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Fiscal Officer, he also oversaw the continued improvement of the Town’s financial condition, including a credit rating upgrade. Previously, Mr. Cantwell served as the East Hampton Village Administrator for three decades. He has also served as a Town Councilman, helping start the Town’s first affordable housing program; and has also been a Town Planning Board member; Chairman of the Town Housing Authority; and a Governor’s appointee to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

TODD FORREST is the Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at The New York Botanical Garden. He oversees all aspects of the management and development of the Garden’s landmark 250-acre landscape, glasshouses, and indoor and outdoor exhibitions, including the 50-acre Thain Family Forest, 50 gardens and plant collections, exhibitions in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and outdoor art exhibitions. He joined The New York Botanical Garden in 1998 as a research assistant in the Science division. He became Curator of Woody Plants in 1999 and Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections in 2005. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in forest science from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

BLANCHE WIESEN COOK is a Distinguished Professor of History at the City University of New York and is writing the third volume of her award-winning series of biographies on the life and work of Eleanor Roosevelt. She is also the author of theDeclassified Eisenhower: A Divided Legacy of Peace and Political Warfare.  

RICHARD REEVES is the author of more than 20 books, including biographies of Presidents Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy and Ford. He is also a senior lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and the recipient of dozens of awards. His 2015 book is Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II.

BRETT KROEGER has been performing regionally, both in OVER THERE in New York City and Greenwich and with Troupers Light Opera in lead roles in its productions of Pirates of Penzance (Edith) and The Red Mill (Gretchen). She has also sung with the Taconic Opera, Opera Manhattan and the DiCapo Opera and has given solo recitals in New York City, in Venice, Italy, and in summer festivals throughout Tuscany. She studies with Bill Schuman. She lives in Riverside CT and East Hampton with her husband, Joshua Weiner, and their two children. Read more at brettkroeger.com.

CHRISTOPHER DENNY has served as musical director, arranger and pianist for such cabaret and opera luminaries as Julie Wilson, Karen Mason, Brent Barrett, Gregg Edelman, Rodgey Gilfry, David Campbell, David Burnham, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Loudon, Tammy Grimes, Judy Kaye and others, earning in the process two Backstage Bistro Awards and four Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Awards for Outstanding Musical Direction. Film work includes producing the recording sessions for Placido Domingo in Baz Luhrman’s “Moulin Rouge.”

GEORGE P. DEMPSEY, M.D., board certified in Family Medicine, received his medical degree from the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN. He completed his residency and fellowship in the Department of Family Medicine at University Hospital SUNY Stony Brook.  He heads a family practice at the East Hampton Healthcare Center where he also teaches medical students and residents from Southampton Hospital.  Dr. Dempsey is currently working on tick-borne disease research.