Gruskin Foundation Presents Awards at First Gala

Two years after vowing to turn her husband's death into an effort to prevent others from suffering the same misfortune and a year after creating a foundation at her kitchen table, Westfield resident Nancy Gruskin stood in front of almost 300 Thursday night to raise funds for the foundation named after her late husband.

The event served as a way to raise funds for the Stuart Gruskin Family Foundation, an organization Gruskin founded as part of her bicycle safety crusade. Stuart Gruskin, a longtime Westfield resident, died in April 2009 after he was struck by a bicycle delivery person going the wrong way on a one-way street in midtown Manhattan.

The event, held at City Winery in SoHo, honored five people for their work on bicycle safety policy, along with allowing Gruskin to talk about her husband her vision for safe biking in the city. Gruskin touched on the normalcy of April 28, 2009.

"It started out as any other day, with Stuart rushing out to catch the 6:45 train to the city and kissing me as he always did," she said.

Gruskin touched on how she was busy getting ready for the joint bar mitvah and bat mitzvah of the couple's twin children, David and Samantha, including working with the carpet installation people. Soon she would get the call that there had been an accident, rushing to Manhattan to be at her husband's side.

"By 5 p.m. that afternoon, after we had already been at the hospital for hours, we knew our lives would never be the same again," Gruskin said in an emotional speech.

Gruskin's advocacy work included turning into a one-woman bike safety campaign in New York. With New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg making bicycling - included the creation of new bike lanes - one of his top transportation priorities, Gruskin has been pushing the safety aspect. Working with New York City Councilmember Rosie Mendez (D-East Village), Gruskin city legislation calling for the collection of data of bike/pedestrian accidents citywide. Bloomberg signed the legislation in February, alongside other pedestrian safety legislation.

Gruskin's work has included testifying before the City Council's transportation committee and meeting frequently with city and state lawmakers, along with city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, a biking advocate, about bike policy. As part of the event, Gruskin honored Mendez, a second term Democrat representing the East Village, the Lower East Side and parts of Murray Hill, with the foundation's first ever visionary award. 

Gruskin has created the five to ride initiative, alongside George Matthews, earlier this year. The initiative is targeted at New York City restaurants and their delivery people on bike safety. Gruskin and Matthews have had 50 Manhattan restaurants sign on to the campaign, which includes signing a pledge to follow five bike safety rules, along with posting a sign supporting the campaign in their window. Gruskin said she and Matthews, who received the foundation's first community impact award, plan to expand the program citywide soon.

While Gruskin has focused her advocacy on New York, the campaign has come to her hometown of Westfield. Edison Intermediate School seventh grader Benjamin Friedman has worked to promote the five to ride initiative in town as part of his bar mitzvah project. A friend of Samantha Gruskin, Friedman, who received one of three advocacy awards from the foundation, has been working to get local restaurants and residents to endorse the initiative's goals.

"It became more than a bar mitzvah project, I was able to make Westfield a safer town by raising awareness to students, kids, adults and so many more," Friedman said in remarks to the crowd.

Friedman was honored alongside Jeanie Chin and Nancy Linday with the advocacy awards. Chin has been active in Lower Manhattan safety initiatives, including restoring bus access to Park Row and reopening closed streets. Linday, who said she was inspired by Gruskin, has been working on pedestrian safety in Chinatown.

Gruskin, who has been a frequent presence on New York television stations promoting bike safety, said that she believes her late husband would be proud of the work she has achieved.

"While he was understated and didn't enjoy the limelight, I truly believe he would be proud to know what has been done so far," she said.