The awarding-winning writer Alice McDermott and Pittsburgh business leader Jim Rooney were honored at the annual Glucksman Ireland House NYU Gala on February 28. Some 300 gathered to toast the honorees at a cocktail reception followed by a seated dinner with presentations of the Seamus Heaney Award for Arts and Letters to McDermott and the Lewis L. Glucksman Award for Leadership to Rooney. Marie Heaney, widow of the poet, lauded McDermott’s writing. In turn, McDermott talked about Heaney’s gift for language, and offered a line of his that she often quotes: “We must teach ourselves to walk on air against our better judgment.”
Loretta Brennan Glucksman, who co-founded GIH with her husband Lewis, presented the award to Jim Rooney, and talked warmly about her friendship with his family, including his father, Dan Rooney, the late U.S. ambassador to Ireland, and the family’s philanthropy. Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies entertained. The event was held at the Kimmel Center on the NYU Campus. NYU president Andrew Hamilton, an Englishman who spent 10 years in Pittsburgh and is a huge Steelers fan, was surprised with the gift of a team jersey. ♦
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