Staimans to Receive Community Arts Center's Director's Chair Award

The Community Arts Center's "Director's Chair" Award for 2006 will be presented to Jean R. and Marvin H. Staiman for the couple's extensive civic/community involvement and longtime support of the Arts Center.

They will be honored March 19 during a fund-raiser dinner and ceremony at the Arts Center, 220 W. Fourth St., Williamsport. The cost for the dinner, which is limited to 120 people, is $100 per person.

"It is our distinct privilege to honor Marv and Jean Staiman with the 2006 Community Arts Center Director's Chair Award in recognition of their many years of tireless support in advancing our institution," said Rob Steele, executive director of the Arts Center. "The Community Arts Center is only one of a score of organizations that has benefited from the Staimans' singular dedication to improving the lives of others in our community."

A Williamsport native, Marvin Staiman was owner, president and chairman of the board of Staiman Brothers Inc., a scrap-processing and recycling company founded by his grandfather in 1900.

He served as president of the Greater Williamsport Chamber of Commerce and was president of Hope Enterprises for five years. Staiman was president of the Susquehanna Council, Boy Scouts of America, and its predecessor organization, and he currently serves as its vice president.

Always a patron of the arts, Staiman served as president of the Williamsport Arts Council, vice president of the Williamsport Community Concert Association Board and a member of the Community Arts Center Board.

He is a past president and crusade chairman for the Lycoming County Division of the American Cancer Society. Staiman is a current board member for Lycoming United Way and has received the organization's President's Award and top leadership award. He co-chaired (with his wife) LUW's 1992 campaign.

He is a past president of the West Branch Manufacturers' Association and was named Business Person of the Year by the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce in 1998. He served a four-year term on Williamsport City Council and currently serves as chairman of the Williamsport Planning Commission.

His other current board affiliations include Divine Providence Hospital, the Williamsport YMCA, the Philadelphia Region of the Anti-Defamation League, Ohev Sholom Congregation, the National Jewish Council on Scouting, the West Branch Manufacturers' Association, AAA North Penn and Woodlands Bank. Past board affiliations include the Visiting Nurse Association, the Lycoming County Historical Society and Lycoming County Brotherhood.

He is chairman of the Central Pennsylvania State of Israel Bonds, a past secretary for the Eastern Council of B'Nai B'rith, past chairman of the Williamsport United Jewish Appeal, and past president for Ohev Sholom Congregation and its men's club, as well as ritual chair of Ohev Sholom.

Staiman has also been active with the Kiwanis Club, the Williamsport Nine County Area Baseball Booster Action, Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Milton Eisner Hebrew High School and the Ben Fine Post, Jewish War Veterans.

He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his civic and community involvement, and he has participated in many fund-raising activities. An Army veteran, he attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Lycoming College.

Jean Staiman is a summa cum laude graduate of Williamsport Dickinson Junior College (now Lycoming College) and was employed with Staiman Brothers Inc. for 22 years.

She is a past president for a number of organizations including the J. Henry Cochran Parent-Teacher Association; Crittenton Services, an agency helping unwed mothers for which she still serves as a board member; the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra Board, for which she still serves as a member; the Ohev Sholom Sisterhood; and the Eastern Pennsylvania Region of Hadassah.

Her other community/board affiliations (past and present) include the Family Life Institute of Northcentral Pennsylvania; Lycoming United Way; Lycoming County Children and Youth Services; the Lycoming-Clinton Joinder Board of Mental Health and Retardation; the Alumni Association of Lycoming College; the Hemlock Girl Scout Council; Susquehanna Council, Boy Scouts of America; Williamsport Hadassah, Hadassah National Council and Hadassah National Board; and State of Israel Bonds, National Women's Division.

She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards for her volunteer/community involvement, including the Grit Award for Community Service; the Lycoming College Alumna of the Year; the Lycoming United Way Honoree of the Year for Community Service; the Susquehanna Council, Boy Scouts of America's Distinguished Citizen Award; and the Daughters of the American Revolution Award for Excellence in Community Service. Like her husband, she has participated in numerous fund-raising activities and events in the community over the years.

The Staimans are the parents of six children, 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A formal portrait of the Staimans, with their director's chair, will hang permanently in the Arts Center's Patron's Lounge.

For more information about the March 19 dinner, call the Community Arts Center box office at (570) 326-2424, toll-free (800) 432-9382; or visit online.