Honorees-
Laura Baudo & Robert F.X. Sillerman

During his extraordinary career, Robert F.X. Sillerman has been a major player in the dynamic worlds of radio, entertainment, sports and event promotion. As chairman and chief executive officer of the Sillerman Companies, and former executive chairman of SFX Entertainment and SFX Broadcasting, he has more than 25 years of investment and operating experience. In 1993, Mr. Sillerman was appointed Chancellor of Southampton College and a member of the Long Island University board of trustees. He and his wife, Laura Baudo Sillerman, have joined hands to donate countless hours of creative talent and elbow grease to make the College’s annual All For The Sea benefit concert the most successful summer fund-raiser in the Hamptons. Their contacts have provided access to entertainment giants such as Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and Paul Simon who play for the cause. Among their many gifts to the College, the Sillermans have given $2.5 million for Chancellors Hall, a $5 million lead gift for the proposed new library and $10 million for the All for the Sea concert series.

As a writer herself, Laura Baudo Sillerman has taken a special interest in Southampton’s English & Writing Program and the John Steinbeck Project, serving on faculty search committees and helping to expand and improve the College’s Summer Writers Conference. Strong believers in “giving back,” the Sillermans are tireless promoters of Southampton College. Together they have played an integral role in creating a new vision for the College. They have hosted numerous benefits and guests of the College and were instrumental in getting Kermit the Frog as the 1996 commencement speaker, an event that made the front page of Newsday and was reported in media around the world. This spring, they teamed up with their friends Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft to host a benefit party for the College with the cast of the Broadway hit “The Producers” at Sardi’s in Manhattan.

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