Inn of Court remembers Judge Schack at annual dinner

June 21, 2016 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Hon. Miriam Cyrulnik was officially sworn in as the president of the Nathan R. Sobel-Kings County American Inn of Court by Hon. Cheryl E. Chambers during the recent annual dinner. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

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The Nathan R. Sobel-Kings County American Inn of Court held its annual dinner on Monday night where it not only swore in its newest officers, but also honored the group’s late President Hon. Arthur Schack at Morso in Manhattan.

“Our last year was a good one for the organization, but it was tinged with sorrow because we lost our leader, Hon. Arthur Schack,” said Jeffrey Feldman, the Inn’s executive director. “He was our leader for the last 12 months [and] didn’t quite make it to the end, but he got us here. I don’t think we would have done it as well or as effectively without Artie Schack.”

Only one award is typically given out during the Inn’s annual dinner, from the incoming president to the outgoing president. This year that award was renamed to the Justice Arthur Schack Award and the inaugural award was bestowed to his wife Dilia Schack by the incoming President Hon. Miriam Cyrulnik.

“As we gather here to celebrate another very successful year at the Inns, we are all diminished by the absence of our president, Justice Arthur Schack, who led this Inn with humor, intelligence and a great heart,” Cyrulnik said. “The masters of this organization have voted to acknowledge Justice Schack and his contributions by making a donation to the Boy Scouts, who were very dear to his heart.

“I’m also pleased to tell you that the masters have voted to name this the Arthur Schack Award, so that all future recipients will be reminded of our friend and be inspired to be the kind of person that he was,” Cyrulnik continued.

Dilia Schack couldn’t fight back tears when accepting the award with her husband’s namesake, but still managed to bring some humor to the situation.

“Arthur really enjoyed being a part of this group and was very excited to be the president this past year,” Dilia said. “Unfortunately, he also got sick this past year and there was a lot that he wanted to do, but I guess they wanted a judge up there that would give them hell.”

The Inn of Court is different from other bar associations as it acts out its Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars rather than holding typical lectures. So this year, for the first time, the group gave out Best Actor awards to its members who put in the best performances. The inaugural winners included Domenick Napoletano, Sara J. Gozo and Ernest Reece.

“That’s what is so great about the Inn — that it’s not just a regular boring CLE where someone is up there pounding out information,” said Mark Longo, who noted that Justice Schack was always one of the group’s most enthusiastic actors. “Everyone gets into it, it’s entertaining and we all put so much into it. So with that in mind, we decided to give out the best actor award.”

The group also held installation ceremonies for Cyrulnik, who took over as the Nathan R. Sobel Inn of Court’s 13th president; Hon. Carl Landicino, the new secretary; and Victoria A. Lombardi, the new counselor.