More than 400 community and key business leaders are expected to flock to Anthony’s Pier 9 in New Windsor on Nov. 20 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

There will be a mix of nonprofit professionals, elected officials, key business people from major employers in the area as well as donors and established philanthropists in attendance. This event will honor Gerald N. Jacobowitz, Esq. and Bold Gold Media Group for their outstanding business and civic leadership.

The Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan will present event honorees with the David T. Cocks Award for Commitment to Community. There will also be a toast to the Foundation’s two decades of growth and success. They now administer more than $31.5 million in charitable assets to positively impact the Hudson Valley and beyond. The organization uses that money to donate to virtually every nonprofit in the area. Proceeds from this event will be donated to those nonprofits.

“This year we have turned it up a notch,” said Elizabeth Rowley, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan. “We have over 300- plus funds under our management.”

The Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Celebrationtion and Annual Reception will begin with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and networking at 5:30 p.m. After that, the awards program will follow, which features table seating and plated desserts. Tickets can be purchased at cfosny.com for $150.

“I’m greatly honored to be recognized as a representative of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan,” said Gerald Jacobowitz, founder and senior partner of Jacobowitz and Gubits, LLP. “This is an organization that does fabulous work.”

Jacobowitz, a founding partner at Jacobowitz and Gubits, LLP, in Walden, is a founding director and past president of the Board of Directors for the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan where he has served since 2000. He has also served as a founding director of Orange County Pro-Bono Legal Services, Inc.; as a 17-year member of the Orange County Planning Board (1997-2014); and as past vice chair of the Orange County Charter Revision Commission (1994-1996). His pro bono activities include board service with Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Middletown Campus). His benevolence can be measured – in part – through the more than 60 grants and scholarships distributed through his family’s three charitable funds at the Community Foundation, including: The Meyer and Lillian Jacobowitz Memorial Fund; the Jacobowitz Family Charitable Trust Fund; and the Ronald I. Jacobowitz Health/Educational Fund, established in memory of his son. The Meyer and Lillian Jacobowitz Memorial Fund awards four scholarships annually, including The Meyer & Lillian Jacobowitz Business Scholarship and the Dr. Morton I. Blackman Memorial Scholarship, both awarded at Valley Central High School, and the Edward Edsall Memorial Scholarship and the Lillian & Meyer Jacobowitz Scholarship, both awarded at Wallkill Senior High School. The Jacobowitz Family Charitable Trust generously supports annual operations of the Community Foundation and other local nonprofits that provide medical or health services or educational programs.

For more than a decade, through their funds at the Community Foundation, “Jerry” and his family have generously supported local nonprofits that include Catholic Charities, Access: Supports for Living, Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, the Newburgh Armory Unity Center, Inspire, Jewish Family Services, and so much more. Additionally, they have aided local students and recognized and rewarded youth leadership.

Professionally,. Jacobowitz practices environmental/land use, real estate, municipal and business law and has served as village and town attorney for municipalities throughout the Hudson Valley. His other accolades include receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Orange County Bar Association, 2008; and being named State of Israel Man of the Year. In April 2011, he was honored by the Orange County Bar Association, and in October 2012, together with his wife, Marlene, was honored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County.