June 18, 2009
ROCHESTER ATTORNEY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS COMMUNITY
SERVICE AWARD FROM NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
Thomas S. Richards cited for leadership, integrity
and commitment to community
ALBANY—The New York State Bar Association announced today that
Thomas S. Richards of Rochester is the recipient of the prestigious
Root/Stimson Award for 2009 – an annual honor that recognizes an
attorney who demonstrates outstanding commitment to community service.
Richards, who currently serves as corporation counsel to the City of
Rochester, will receive the award on June 20 at the State Bar’s
House of Delegates meeting in Cooperstown.
Described by friends and colleagues as a man who has selflessly
dedicated himself to the community of Rochester, Richards has played a
major leadership role on the boards of many important non-profit
organizations including the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute
of Technology, Greater Rochester Enterprise, the International Museum of
Photography at the George Eastman House, the Center for Government
Research, the Otetiana Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the
Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School.
Richards’ contribution to the delivery of health care in
Rochester is particularly notable. For example, as a member of the board
of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and later as its chairman
(2007-2008), he implemented an ambitious strategic plan that resulted in
significant expansion, including the addition of a new Cancer Center and
Cardiovascular Institute. His efforts at the Medical Center have
resulted in measureable improvements in the delivery of health care and
also have helped the University become Rochester’s largest
employer with the equivalent of more than 19,000 full-time
employees.
As a member of the board of the Rochester Institute of Technology and
chair of the Conflict of Interest Committee, he is credited with
bringing the University into compliance with the initial phase of
Sarbanes-Oxley, a complicated federal law administered by the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
“Tom is an extraordinary leader whose problem-solving
abilities, keen legal expertise and dedication to service represent the
very best of our profession,” said State Bar President Michael E.
Getnick of Utica (Getnick Livingston Atkinson & Priore, LLP and of
counsel to Getnick & Getnick of New York City). “From
his leadership role in Rochester’s health care community to his
service on the boards of so many worthy non-profits, he has demonstrated
an unparalleled generosity of time and effort. It is only fitting that
the State Bar honor him with the 2009 Root/Stimson Award for community
service.”
“Tom Richards has built a deserving reputation as a
distinguished lawyer and businessman. Yet it is his devotion to
community and his innumerable contributions to the City of Rochester
that set him apart,” said Paul Michael Hassett of Buffalo (Brown
& Kelly LLP), chair of the Root/Stimson Award Subcommittee of the
Committee on the Annual Award, which sponsored the competition.
“He is, indeed, an excellent choice to receive this
honor.”
Richards is a graduate of Bucknell University and Cornell University
Law School. He also served in the U.S. Navy. In his current post as
corporation counsel to the City of Rochester, he oversees the Law
Department and serves as a member of Mayor Robert J. Duffy’s
senior management team. He was previously the managing partner of Nixon,
Hargrave, Devans & Doyle (now Nixon Peabody LLP), and chairman,
president and CEO of RGS Energy Group.
The Root/Stimson Award is named in honor of Elihu Root
and Henry L. Stimson, who selflessly gave much of their time and effort
to community service activities. The award, created in 1974, is
presented to a lawyer admitted to practice in New York who is actively
involved in volunteer community service work.
The 76,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, State Bar programs
and activities have continuously served the public and improved the
justice system for more than 130 years.
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