Meet our newest members, inducted Feb. 2.
Fred Hewitt was born in 1935 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the fourth of 13 siblings in a close-knit family. His father was a hardworking factory foreman for years and his mother ran the household, supplementing the family pantry by vegetable gardening and raising chickens and ducks. His parents encouraged education, which allowed Fred to immigrate to the US in 1968 and to find work in the business world.
Fred married the love of his life, Phyllis, in 1989. He provided for his four sons and was married for 28 years, the happiest of his life, until Phyllis’ death in 2017. Fred wants to join our Society because of the high ethical standards he learned from his parents.
Laura Alessi has a bachelor of arts degree in Italian from the University of Michigan and a master of science degree in teaching. She lived and worked in Italy for five years after graduating from college, first as an English teacher, and then as a project manager for a technological innovation research group. Laura worked on some exciting projects for the European Commission and European Patent Office during her time there. Upon returning to the US, she received certification to teach Italian, and has been teaching at Suffern High School since 2007. She lives in Nyack with her husband, Antonio Lo Pinto, and children, and particularly enjoys traveling and photography.
Antonio Lo Pinto has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Genoa and in finance from Baruch College. After college, he also ran a house for immigrants in need who had recently relocated to Italy. He taught telecommunications and electronics for five years, then worked as an engineering project manager, designing and overseeing development of technologies for highways in Italy. He relocated with his wife, Laura, to the United States to raise their family.
Len Goldstein was born in the Bronx and grew up in Paramus. He graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a business degree and spent most of his career in the food industry. He owned a bagel store in the 1980s and was a restaurant manager for several companies for more than 30 years before his retirement. He has been happily married for 30 year to his wife, Alison, and they have a daughter, Rachel, 24. One of his passions is music, and he has played bass guitar, including rock, blues, and folk, for more than 45 years. He came to our Society through his wife, who was brought up in Ethical Culture, and he says that Ethical Culture philosophy matches how he sees the world.
Alison Goldstein, a native of Queens, graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in psychology. She had two separate careers, spending 13 years in the corporate world in human resources and, for 11 years, teaching pre-school art for a private art-education company. After retiring last year, Alison became a volunteer ESL tutor at Old Tappan Library.
In joining our Ethical Society, she is returning to her roots. “Ethical Culture is part of my heritage,” she says, adding that her mother attended the Fieldston School and that her parents were married by the late leader Howard Radest. Her family attended the Ethical Culture Society in Queens; she attended the Sunday School and, as a teenager, participated in the Encampment for Citizenship. With her husband, Len, Alison loves attending movies, theater, and museums, as well as traveling.
