Port Washington Couple Are Hospice Care Network Gala Honorees

Port Washington residents Suzanne and Bill O'Connor are this year's Hospice Care Network Crystal Ball Gala honorees. The gala will take place on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Glen Head Country Club in Glen Head, and will feature a New York Casino.

The O'Connors have long supported Hospice Care Network, a Woodbury-based non-profit organization serving Long Island and Queens patients and their families.

Suzanne (Suzy) O’Connor became the Hospice Care Network's first patient care volunteer, in 1988. Elected to the board in 1990, she went on to became vice chair of the organization, from 1991-2003. Currently trustee, she has served in many facets of the organization, including bereavement, speaker’s bureau and fund-raising. She has secured several major grants, including a recent grant to underwrite the organizations complimentary massage therapy program. Suzy has chaired and co-chaired the HCN’s Development Committee since 1997 and also chaired its Crystal Ball gala committee.

Suzy, who has a background in teaching, has also collaborated with the Junior League of Long Island, Creative Arts Workshop, St. Francis Hospital and North Shore Nursery School. She is a member of the .

Bill O’Connor, an attorney, practices in New York City. His civic and charitable activities have included his role as a director and president of Lucerna Fund, a not-for-profit organization engaged in the production and distribution of recorded materials for sight-impaired persons; trustee of The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust; trustee and president of Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut; member of the executive committee of the board of managers of the New York Botanical Garden; and president of the Port Washington Community Chest.

The O'Connors have one son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. 

Gina Whitcomb Daly, a co-founder of Whitson’s Culinary Group, will also be honored at the gala.