On November 12, 2009, the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate hosted the annual Real Estate Alumni Reception at the Asia Society on the Upper East Side of Manhattan . This year, the Milstein Center honored Distinguished Real Estate Partner Howard P. Milstein, co-chairman, president and chief executive officer of Emigrant Savings Bank and its holding company, New York Private Bank & Trust, the largest privately owned bank in the country. He is also a managing partner of Milstein Properties, an investment builder active in both residential and commercial development primarily in New York City, and founding chairman of the merchant bank FriedbergMilstein. The scion of one of New York’s great real estate families, Howard P. Milstein has actively supported all the activities surrounding the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate, named in honor of his father. He has played a leading role in both the Real Estate Forum and the MBA Real Estate Program Advisory Board for more than a decade, and has added his energy, ideas and wisdom to these programs. The Milstein family’s generosity has made a difference at many New York institutions, including the Milstein Hospital Building at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center; the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History; the Milstein Division of Local History, American History and Genealogy at the New York Public Library; and the Milstein National Cord Blood Center at the New York Blood Center, which Mr. Milstein chairs. Mr. Milstein earned a BA in economics summa cum laude from Cornell in 1973 and a JD/MBA from Harvard in 1977. Past Distinguished Real Estate Partners include Daniele D. Bodini '72, chairman, American Continental Properties Group; Jeff Barclay '83, managing director and head of acquisitions, ING Clarion Partners; Joseph Azrack '72, president and CEO, Citigroup Property Investors; Alan Leventhal, CEO, Beacon Capital Partners; Jerry Speyer '64, president and CEO, Tishman Speyer Properties; Sam Zell, chairman, Equity Group Investments; and Mike Fascitelli, president, Vornado Realty Trust. Over 250 former Columbia Business School students attended the cocktail event, along with several real estate faculty members and business school staff from the external relations office and the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. Professor Lynne B. Sagalyn, Director of the Paul Milstein Center, offered opening remarks and presented the award to Mr. Milstein.