Greenwich Retired Men’s Association Promotes Community Service: RMA and the Greenwich Symphony
By Fred Wu
The mission of the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association is summarized by its three foundational pillars: fellowship, service, and volunteerism. The Wednesday morning weekly meetings and numerous other regular activities provide ample opportunity for members to interact, engage, and build and maintain friendships. The weekly speaker program brings in highly qualified leaders in diverse fields to deliver to the Greenwich community interesting and timely talks, followed by lively discussions. The RMA encourages members to participate in local organizations that serve the community in other ways. A list of organizations to which members have volunteered their services can be found here: greenwichrma.org/volunteer-external.
For example, in the past year, the RMA supported the efforts of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra (GSO) to select a new music director. The GSO is unusual in that its musicians are all committed professionals, while its administration and board of directors are all volunteers. The GSO was in the final stage of its two-year long music director search, having spent the first year narrowing the field of 170 applicants down to five finalists through an intensive research and interview process. In this final stage, each of the five finalists came to Greenwich to rehearse for and conduct one weekend pair of concerts. At the request of RMA member Fred Wu, Mike Ambrosino (RMA president at the time) and speaker program chair Hollister Sturges agreed that the RMA would schedule each of the five finalists to be the featured speaker at the Wednesday RMA meeting ahead of their concert weekend. This was an ideal venue for the GSO to give each finalist broad exposure to the Greenwich community, and for the audience to learn about the backgrounds of these talented and accomplished musicians.
At the end of the 2021-22 season of concerts conducted by the finalists, the GSO Board selected Stuart Malina to be the new music director. For his inaugural concerts, Malina chose George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as the centerpiece, for which Malina would both conduct and perform as piano soloist. Weeks before the concert, RMA member and jazz enthusiast Tim Brooks volunteered to pique the interest of the membership by giving a brief talk to the RMA members about the unusual history behind the creation of Rhapsody in Blue. Just ahead of the concert, Stuart Malina was invited to the Wednesday RMA meeting to meet and mingle with members, as well as make a very brief invitation to the upcoming season. Fred Wu, who volunteers with the GSO, was in the hall selling tickets to RMA members at the group discount rate.
The concerts on Saturday and Sunday, September 10-11 were very well attended, including a large number of RMA members and their families. The RMA was instrumental in promoting the concerts and the Greenwich Symphony in general.
This is just one example of how the RMA and its members support local volunteer organizations. Overall, RMA members contribute over 1000 hours each month to numerous local service organizations.
The next RMA speaker will be Susan Herbst, professor of political science and president emeritus, University of Connecticut. The talk is entitled “Democracy in Peril? Ten Critical Political Dynamics to Understand Currently.” Concerned about the current state of American democracy? Worried about the fragility of our constitutional system and its future? Then you will not want to miss Susan Herbst’s presentation positing ten critical political dynamics necessary to understand the extent to which our democracy may be threatened.
Dr. Herbst was appointed as the 15th president of the University of Connecticut on December 20, 2010, by the University’s Board of Trustees. She stepped down as president on July 1, 2019 and returned to the faculty. She teaches at the Stamford campus.
Prior to her appointment to the presidency, Dr. Herbst served as executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of the University System of Georgia where she led 15 university presidents and oversaw the academic missions for all 35 public universities in Georgia. Before coming to Georgia, she served in a number of posts, including provost and executive vice president at the University of Albany (SUNY); dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University; and chair of the Political Science Department at Northwestern University.
Born in New York City and raised in Peekskill, NY, Dr. Herbst received her B.A. in political science from Duke University in 1984 and her Ph.D. in communication theory and research from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication in Los Angeles in 1989. She is the author of five books; her newest, A Troubled Birth: The 1930’s and American Public Opinion, was recently published by the University of Chicago Press.
Dr. Herbst’s presentation will occur on September 28 at 11 AM at the First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich.
Please Note: Attendees must show proof of vaccination and booster at the door for admittance.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to www.greenwichrma.org, or contact our membership chairman (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org).
