New York State Bar Association honors Dr. Parveen Chopra

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 00:21 IST   |    1 Comments
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New York: The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has conferred Dr. Parveen Chopra with the Prestigious Haywood Burns Memorial Award for his outstanding work in civil and Human Rights. Dr. Chopra is the first South Asian honored in the history of the 133 years old organization. The award was presented by the Committee on Civil Rights Chair Fernando Bohorquez Esq. (Baker Hosteler llp) at the New York Marriott Marquis in Manhattan, as part of the Association's 132nd Annual Meeting. Every year one person is chosen for this award based on outstanding contributions to civil rights activities in America. Previous winners of the Award include Honorable United States Federal Judge Cornelius V. Blackshear, Honorable Justice Ellen M. Yacknin and Honorable Pam Badoria Jackman Brown. Dr. Chopra has a history of community service including a previous service as the first Asian Commissioner of Human Rights for 20 years and the first Indian American appointed to Public Office on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. He also served as Commissioner of Planning in Nassau County for six years improving the quality of life of 1.3 million Americans. He currently serves on the Board of the Bhartya Vidhya Bhavan, UNYFCE, and the NYCLU in Nassau. He has previously been honored with Awards of distinction from the One Hundred Black Men USA, Martin Luther King Jr. Award and the highly distinguished Ellis Island Medal of Honor a distinction he shares with former Presidents, several noble laureates and other distinguished Americans. Dr. Chopra has been a life time educator and Professor in Graduate Schools of Business and holds a PhD, MBA, LLB and 4 other Masters degrees. Dignitaries who attended the function included Honorable Judge Frank Schellace of Supreme Court; Honorable Judge Sharon Stern Gertsman of Supreme Court, Honorable Thomas Levin, Honorable Judge Elizabeth Dalal Pessala from Long Island, Honorable Judge Helena Heath-Roland from Albany City Court, Honorable Senator Toby Stavisky, Honorable Senator Hiram Monserrate, Honorable Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, Honorable Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn, Honorable Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, Honorable Assemblyman Michael Den Dekker, Honorable Assemblyman Mark Weprin, Honorable Assemblyman Jose Peralta, Honorable Assemblywoman Meng, Honorable Councilman and Chair of Finance David Weprin from New York City, Honorable Councilman John Liu, Honorable Councilwoman Gail Bewer, Honorable Councilman Thomas White, Honorable Councilwoman Leslie Gross from Town of North Hempstead, Steven Richman � General Counsel NYC Board of Elections, Nara Rampilla � Special Counsel to the United Nations, Honorable Padam Shree Dr. P. Jayaraman founder of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan USA, Dr. A.M. Gondane Deputy Council General in New York, Rev. Reginald Tuggle African American leader of Council of Churches, Julius Pearse founder President of Dr. Martin Luther King Foundation, Rabbi Anchelle Perl a national Jewish leader who has his own national radio and television programs, Rabbi Moses Birnbaum of Kew Gardens synagogue, Tony Patino chairperson of Coalition of Association of Hispanic Americans, Petsy Chen President of Taiwanese Center, Giri Chhabra President Hindu Center and Temple, Kailash Sharma President of Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation, Brahma Kumari Anjani from Global Harmony House, Darshan Bagga chairperson of Sikh Forum and Senior representatives from the United States Attorney's Office in Manhattan. Founded in 1876, NYSBA is the largest voluntary association of attorneys in the United States with over 76,000 members.