A Night to Remember

David Savona
From the Print Edition:
Tom Berenger, July/Aug 2007

(continued from page 2)

 

The head table. Standing, from left to right: Leonard Riggio, Jeff Greenfield, Marvin R. Shanken, Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, Joel Surnow and Chuck Wagner. Seated, from left to right: Cathy and Gen. Tommy Franks, Hazel Shanken, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Milken.

 

Gen. Tommy Franks stands at the podium at the Four Seasons.

With that in mind, Shanken took to the podium to announce Rudolph Giuliani as a speaker. "I've been saying this for five or six years when I introduce him. People applaud, but they take me lightly," said Shanken. "Don't take me lightly anymore: ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States, Rudy Giuliani."

 

Giuliani spoke poignantly about the importance of the evening. "My dad did die of prostate cancer, and the first year I came here was the year before I had it," he said. He went to Milken for information, a man he had prosecuted in his former role as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Michael and I had a complicated past. It's remarkable what he's done for prostate cancer, and it's remarkable what Marvin has done."

"When I was a kid, when I found out my father had cancer, it was a death sentence," said Giuliani, who has lived with his cancer for six years. "Now, some of these cancers have 75 percent survivor rates. That's the only political pitch I'll make -- for optimism."

Rush Limbaugh, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani enjoy the Night to Remember.

 

As the plates were cleared and Port glasses filled, Shanken took to the podium again, this time with a large cigar in his mouth. The waiters brought out Humidipak bags filled with cigars. He lit, and he puffed. "Gentlemen, start your engines," he said. "This is a cigar dinner."

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