History
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The Rotary Club of Livingston - New Jersey
Our History
Seventy-five years of Service Above Self in Livingston - from a charter dinner at the Condor in 1950 to a Summerfest that fills the Oval today.
1950Chartered May 5
#5532Rotary Club No.
75+Years of service
$110KRaised each year
The club's first officers at the charter dinner, May 22, 1950. Left to right: Nicholas Cordasco, George Schwahl, Jerome Lewis, William McChesney, Frank W. Schork, Victor C. Gilbert and Sam Winkler. West Essex Tribune, May 25, 1950; photo by William Hucker.
Chartered in 1950
Twenty-one clubs came to the Condor to welcome Livingston's own.
The Rotary Club of Livingston was organized under the sponsorship of the Rotary clubs of West Orange and Whippany, led by Pierre Davenport of West Orange. Rotary International issued the charter on May 5, 1950, as club number 5532.
On the evening of May 22, 1950, the young club celebrated with a charter-night dinner dance at the Condor restaurant. Before delegations from 21 Rotary clubs across New Jersey, District Governor Clifford Lindholm presented the charter to the club's first president, Frank W. Schork. Judge J. Raymond Tiffany, a past district governor, gave the main address, and Township Chairman T. Clyde Riley welcomed the club on behalf of Livingston.
The first officers were Frank W. Schork, president; Victor C. Gilbert, vice president; George R. Schwahl, secretary; Sam Winkler, treasurer; Nicholas Cordasco, sergeant-at-arms; and Jerome Lewis and William P. McChesney, directors.
The club first met on Tuesdays at 12:15 PM at English's Grill in Livingston. Today we meet on Tuesdays at 7:45 AM at the Plaza Cafe, 354 Eisenhower Parkway - still starting the week in service.
A timeline of service
75 years, one thread: show up for Livingston.
Every entry below is documented in the West Essex Tribune archive, township records, or the club's own minutes.
| 1950s | ||
| 1950 | The club is chartered (May 5) and celebrates charter night at the Condor (May 22). Its first fundraiser follows that November. | |
| 1951-52 | Fundraising for the community begins in earnest: the 1951 Horse Show and the 1952 Mills Bros. circus. | |
| 1950s | The club contributed $5,000 toward an emergency salvage truck. | |
| 1952 | In July, Livingston Rotary gave the Police Department four portable oxygen units, one for each patrol car, at $112 apiece. A week later, a front-page demonstration pictured president William McChesney and community-service chair Dr. Paul White with Police Chief Swain; the equipment had already aided two heat-exhaustion victims on its first day. | |
| 1953 | Rotary announces plans for a hard-surface play area in Memorial Park, financed by the previous fall's Rotary Circus. The August 20 Tribune reports a proposed 75-by-100-foot surface costing approximately $2,500, with roller skating, dancing and winter ice skating envisioned. | |
| 1953 | The club presents the Circle W Rodeo on September 26 and pairs it with a youth advance-ticket contest; the top prize, a donated bicycle, sits in Center Pharmacy's window. | |
| 1954 | The club donates a fire-rescue truck to the town of Livingston and makes a gift to Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec. | |
| 1954 | Livingston Rotary sponsors the Livingston Indians, a baseball team for ages 17 to 19 in the new Valley League. The team wins its opener 12-0; the club hopes the league will give older Little League players a lasting place to play. | |
| 1956 | Gas masks for the Livingston Police Department. | |
| 1956 | Livingston Rotary joins the Memorial Day parade in a convertible bearing the club sign, with Johnny Hazuka aboard. | |
| 1957 | The first scholarships for Livingston students - a program still running today. | |
| 1957 | The club purchased and planted 50 cherry-blossom trees in Memorial Park. | |
| 1957-58 | Robert "Bob" Oswald became Livingston Rotary president, with Sidney Cohen as first vice president. | |
| 1958 | On November 20, Livingston Rotary donated a hydraulic jack valued at $150 to the First Aid Squad. Squad president Jim McCarren accepted it from Rotary president Phil Keigher. | |
| 1960s | ||
| 1961 | A flagpole for the Livingston First Aid Squad - and the club's first documented Youth Exchange student, from Belgium. Exchanges from New Zealand, Tasmania and Brazil follow. | |
| 1961-62 | Ralph Mitschele was installed as president, succeeding Dr. Robert Solomon; Stan Meisel served as treasurer and Kenneth Welch as a director. | |
| 1962 | In late January, vandals ruined five ornamental cherry trees in front of Livingston High School - trees the club had given the Township several years earlier as part of the Civic Center beautification project. | |
| 1962 | The club pledged $5,000 over five years toward Saint Barnabas Medical Center's Livingston campus. | |
| 1962 | The club sponsors a four-week visit by Lieve Koninck of Hasselt, Belgium, under the Experiment in International Living. She stays with four Rotary families and addresses the club about Belgium. The Tribune calls this the club's second consecutive year sponsoring a foreign student. | |
| 1962 | The club donates $100 to a VFW Auxiliary fund helping Joey MacMillan, a child receiving treatment for severe burns. The Tribune identifies Livingston Rotary as the first organization to respond to the appeal. | |
| 1964 | By this year, Livingston Rotary was supporting students through annual checks across multiple college years, not only one-time awards. | |
| 1964 | The club gave the public library a $150 collection of business books, continuing a program begun several years earlier. | |
| 1964-65 | William Green served as president, with future president Kenneth Welch as vice president. | |
| 1966 | Livingston Rotary hosted a delegation from an Argentine Rotary club, with Karl Miller chairing the visit committee and president Kenneth Welch welcoming delegation leader Jorge Jauregui. | |
| 1966-67 | Past Livingston president Fred Ambielli served as District 747 Governor and hosted Rotary International president Richard L. Evans during his district visit in February 1967. | |
| 1968 | Six bulletproof vests, "capable of stopping a .45," are donated to the Livingston Police. The club's charity circus is already in its third year. | |
| 1970s | ||
| 1972 | The club and the Livingston Police Department co-sponsor "Safety Town" at Livingston Mall, a miniature village where children learn pedestrian safety. | |
| 1970s | The annual charity circus series packs the stands through the decade, funding the club's growing local work. | |
| 1973 | Diane Lampeter receives the club's $1,000 scholarship at the Livingston High School awards assembly. | |
| 1975 | A scholarship is awarded in memory of a past president - and the club welcomes another exchange student to Livingston. | |
| 1975 | Robert Grady receives the club's $1,500 scholarship, the largest individual award at the high school's annual assembly. | |
| 1978-79 | Bill Belott became Livingston Rotary president. | |
| 1979 | The club gave the Livingston Public Library $500 for new business publications; President Bill Belott presented the check to librarian Ruth Rockwood. | |
| 1979 | At the July installation, Len Woods succeeded Bill Belott as president. The new officer line included Moody Cheema, Caleb Sniffen, Don Rickert, Art Zicker and James Bhaskar. | |
| 1980s | ||
| 1980-81 | Caleb Sniffen became Livingston Rotary president. | |
| 1981 | The club sold reserved-seat tickets for the All American Circus at South Mountain Arena, keeping half of each ticket price for club projects. | |
| 1981 | President Caleb Sniffen presented librarian Leila-Jane Roberts with the club's gift for the library's business-book collection. | |
| 1981 | Anthony Arloro received the first installment of the club's $2,400 scholarship. | |
| 1982 | An oxygen unit for the Livingston Police Department. | |
| 1982-83 | James "Jim" Bhaskar became Livingston Rotary president, taking the gavel from H. Mahomood Cheema, with Samuel Spagnola as president-elect. | |
| 1983 | Stephen Walsh won the club's $2,400 four-year scholarship, presented by Ralph Mitschele and President Jim Bhaskar. | |
| 1983 | The club gave $250 to the YMCA nursery school; President Jim Bhaskar presented the check to Tina Anapolsky. | |
| 1980s | The club donates toward the flagpoles at Memorial Park. | |
| 1984 | The club supported Livingston Soccer Club and hosted a Rotary exchange student from Rio de Janeiro for a year. | |
| 1984 | Livingston Rotary contributed toward new township flagpoles, continuing the club's long record of visible civic improvements. | |
| 1987-88 | Joseph Connolly Jr. served as president. | |
| Dec. 1987 | President Joseph Connolly Jr. presented a club donation to the Saint Barnabas Burn Foundation. | |
| 1988 | Sponsorship of TIGS, a teen leadership program. | |
| 1988-89 | Joe McCaffrey served as president, with Carl Bergel as vice president. | |
| Jan. 1989 | The club contributed to computer equipment for the Livingston Police Detective Bureau, supporting crime prevention. | |
| 1989 | Livingston Rotary made contributions to both the Livingston Fire Department and the First Aid Squad. | |
| 1989-90 | Harry Panos began the first of two consecutive terms as president. | |
| July 1989 | District 747 Governor Joseph S. Seidel made his annual visit, meeting with President Harry Panos and secretary Kazuo Ogura. The club met weekly at Lam's Restaurant. | |
| 1990s | ||
| 1990 | The club awarded annual scholarships to Livingston High School graduates William Lyons III and Margaret Gethard. | |
| 1990 | Livingston National Little League lists the club among its 1990 sponsors. | |
| 1991 | Livingston National Little League lists the club among its 1991 sponsors. | |
| 1991 | Livingston Rotary joins the Lions and Kiwanis clubs for their annual joint meeting at the Holiday Inn on Route Ten, hosted by the Lions Club. | |
| 1990-91 | Harry Panos served as president. | |
| 1991 | In July, Rotary past district governor Tony Saggese presented former Livingston mayor Kenneth Welch with the Paul Harris Award, as club president Robert McCann looked on. | |
| 1991 | In October, the Township Council opened a $50,000 drive to build a community gazebo bandstand behind the Force Home in Memorial Park. Livingston Rotary and the Livingston Elks pledged to join the Kiwanis Club in donating their members' labor to help build it. | |
| 1992 | Livingston National Little League lists the club among its 1992 sponsors. | |
| 1993 | Representatives of the Livingston United Nations Committee speak to Rotary on October 26 about "Rethinking Basic Assumptions About the United Nations." | |
| 1993 | Finnish exchange student Petra Aminoff joins Livingston Rotary members at the district assembly at Skylands in Randolph Township. | |
| 1993 | Livingston National Little League lists Rotary among its 1993 sponsors. | |
| 1993 | In February, Rotary fellowship recipient Patricia Cignarella visited the club to report on her studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, presenting a ceremonial banner from Kinross District 101 to president Joe Zahn and president-elect Joe McCaffrey. | |
| 1993 | Livingston Mall directed part of its holiday Santa Photo proceeds to the club's Children's Hospital Gift of Life program, supporting open-heart surgery for children - marketing director Deborah Flattery presented the check to president Joe Zahn, and a benefit fashion show followed on March 27. | |
| 1993-94 | Joe McCaffrey served a second verified term as president, following his 1988-89 presidency. | |
| 1993-95 | The club's four-year scholarship program supported successive Livingston students, including Darren Williams, Lisa Engeldrum and Frank Fusaro. | |
| 1994-96 | Barbara Jean Sikora served as president for both 1994-95 and 1995-96. | |
| 1995 | The club plans to participate in an August 27 benefit car show in Florham Park, raising funds for District 7470's Gift of Life program. | |
| 1995 | Livingston National Little League lists Livingston Rotary among its 1995 sponsors. | |
| 1995 | The club announces "Feelin' Foolish," an April 1 dance at the Livingston Elks, with proceeds supporting Gift of Life heart surgery for children. | |
| 1995 | Livingston Rotary members plan to join District 7470's first "Walk for the World" on April 2. The ten-kilometer event at Loantaka Brook Park is intended to support the Rotary Foundation and local Rotary clubs' community work. | |
| 1995 | The club held an Oktoberfest dance to benefit the Livingston Rotary Scholarship Fund. | |
| 1995-96 | Hungarian Rotary exchange student Dora Szabo attended Livingston High School, hosted by Ernest and Anna Csorgo. | |
| 1996 | The club seeks applicants for District 7470's short-term youth exchange, with a three-week visit to Shikoku, Japan, planned for July and a reciprocal visit by Japanese youths. | |
| 1996 | The club is listed among the community organizations participating in the May 27 Memorial Day parade up Livingston Avenue, following the observance at Memorial Park. | |
| 1996 | Livingston National Little League and its girls' softball program thank Livingston Rotary Club among the sponsors supporting the 1996 season. | |
| 1996 | The club appears with the Kiwanis and township businesses among the sponsors of a full-page "Think Before You Drink" holiday safety message. | |
| 1996-97 | Freda Renz-Spagnola served as president. | |
| 1996-97 | Two redwood benches, built from California sequoia, are placed at the Rockwood Library. | |
| 1998 | The club completed its four-year scholarship to Frank Fusaro with a final $1,000 installment as he entered his senior year at Emory University. | |
| 1998-99 | Allan Feid Jr. serves the first of three consecutive terms as club president (1998-99 through 2000-01). | |
| 1999 | At Charter Night, the club named Barbara Jean Sikora a Paul Harris Fellow and contributed $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation in her honor. | |
| 1999-2000 | Allan Feid Jr. continues as club president for a second consecutive term. | |
| 2000s | ||
| 2000-01 | Allan Feid Jr. serves a third consecutive term as club president, confirmed by an October 2000 profile naming him the current president. | |
| 2000 | Livingston Celebration 2000 thanks Livingston Rotary among the contributors to its "Millennium Spectacular." | |
| 2002 | The club co-sponsors Dr. Elliot Engel's National Library Week program at the Rockwood Memorial Library. | |
| 2002 | Livingston American Little League names the club among the sponsors supporting its youth baseball program. | |
| 2002 | Using $600 from its golf outing, the club shipped 800 surplus Livingston High School science books through Books for Africa to Nigeria. | |
| 2002 | The club donated toward the Livingston First Aid Squad's campaign to purchase a fourth ambulance. | |
| 2002 | The club helped the English Adult School begin its fall classes, supporting English instruction, citizenship assistance and help understanding local customs. | |
| 2004 | The first annual Food Tasting - the restaurant event that goes on to raise more than $100,000 for the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Barnabas Medical Center in its first eight years. | |
| 2010s | ||
| 2010 | The Rotary Club of Livingston Foundation gains federal tax exemption, giving the club a permanent charitable arm. | |
| 2011 | Donations to the VFW, the Jewish War Veterans and the American Legion assist Livingston families with soldiers serving in the military, funded by the October Citizenship Award dinner. | |
| 2011 | A dictionary for every third grader at Burnet Hill School. | |
| 2012 | An international matching-grant project with partner clubs from New Jersey, Florida, Hungary and Romania builds four vocational classrooms at a Romanian orphanage. | |
| 2013-14 | Allan Feid Jr. served as club president - a fourth term, returning after three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2001. | |
| 2013 | The fourth annual New Jersey Citizenship Award dinner honors Metro YMCA of the Oranges directors and Peter and Michael Schofel of Eastman Companies; the Tribune's dinner photo names club president Allan Feid Jr. among those shown. | |
| 2014 | The Foundation's annual awards dinner honors Tim McLoone with the Citizenship Award, the Fire Department and First Aid Squad with Community Service Awards, and Allan Feid Sr. for 50 years of Rotary membership; the Tribune's dinner photo names club president Jeanne Parke among those shown. | |
| 2014-15 | Jeanne Parke served as club president. | |
| 2010 onward | The club established the New Jersey Citizenship Award. | |
| 2011 onward | The club established the Community Service Award. | |
| By 2014 | For five consecutive years, the club partnered with the Welfare Department on Thanksgiving and holiday food baskets. | |
| 2020s | ||
| 2022 | The Township of Livingston proclaims World Polio Day, honoring the club's polio-eradication work. | |
| 2023 | The club presents its humanitarian work to the Township Council and delivers a $5,000 donation. | |
| 2024 | Summerfest draws more than 4,000 attendees. The club marks its 75th anniversary year and approves an $80,000 gift to name a Community Room at the new West Essex YMCA - its largest single commitment. | |
| 2025 | Summerfest nets $53,688; the Food Tasting donates $10,000 to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. | |
| 2026 | The West Essex YMCA confirms it received the club's $80,000 gift toward its new facility; one of its two Community Rooms will carry the club's name. | |
| 2026 | A Beach Day at the Jersey Shore for visiting Japanese high school exchange students, hosted with the Nutley Rotary Club. | |
From the archives
The record, in pictures.
A flagpole for the Livingston First Aid Squad, 1961. West Essex Tribune archive.
Scholarship awards, 1975. West Essex Tribune archive.
Welcoming a Youth Exchange student, 1975. West Essex Tribune archive.
800 books bound for Nigeria, 2002. West Essex Tribune archive.
Charter night at the Condor, May 22, 1950. West Essex Tribune; photo by William Hucker.
The impact today
The same club. A bigger table.
Each year the club raises roughly $110,000 and donates about $60,000 to local and global causes: Summerfest proceeds for the Livingston PBA Local 263 and the Livingston First Aid Squad, the Food Tasting's annual gift to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, three scholarships for Livingston High School seniors, and support for Gift of Life New Jersey, Livingston Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the Rise to Shine Education Foundation - plus hands-on projects like Pedals for Progress, meal packing and Youth Exchange hosting.
Compiled from the West Essex Tribune digital archive (Livingston Public Library), Township of Livingston records, Rotary International club records and the club's own minutes, 2024-2026.
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