A salute to dedication

Banquet honors those who retired or reached major milestones in 2006

The 10 individuals honored at the anniversary and retirement dinner on May 2 have collectively dedicated more than 300 years of service to The Rockefeller University. Add the people honored at the employee recognition reception on May 16, and it’s nearly a millennium.

RETIRED IN 2006:

Alfonso Arias (Custodial) was fond of telling elaborate, often fanciful stories of his life in Cuba, where he lived before his days at Rockefeller. He had worked there as a fisherman, and the sailor hat he wore on campus earned him the nicknames “Capitan” and “Popeye the Sailor Man.” Since his retirement last year, Mr. Arias, above right, has continued a very active life of weightlifting, skating, dancing, traveling and learning as many new languages as he can.

Virginia Caldwell-Rosario (Hirsch Lab) is well known on campus for her unflagging energy. While making herself indispensable as an administrative assistant in Jules Hirsch’s lab, she has also pursued a degree in anthropology, become a certified New York City disaster-relief volunteer and gained a reputation as the “silver streaker” for her habit of racing the buses on her way to work — and often winning.

Bindu Patel (Data Processing) joined Rockefeller in 1974, one year after arriving in the United States from her native India. As assistant manager of data processing, Ms. Patel, right, was extraordinarily diligent, sometimes pulling all-nighters at the office to ensure that everything in her charge ran smoothly. Her colleagues will remember the home-cooked Indian cuisine she shared with them.

Carol Valli (Sakmar Lab) has served as an administrator for two directors, three offices and four professors. During Thomas Sakmar’s tenure as acting president of the university, Ms. Valli made sure that his laboratory continued to run efficiently. A Queens resident who grew up just steps away from Rockefeller on East 66th Street, Ms. Valli has traveled as far as Africa, following her love of animals to the Serengeti Plain. She also volunteers at animal shelters and has adopted several homeless pets.

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS:

Louis Kabatnik (Custodial) may have missed his calling as a comedian, but he keeps the halls of Rockefeller sparkling clean and ringing with laughter at his perpetual high spirits.

With degrees in both science and accounting, Regina Lake (Finance) not only speaks the language of researchers, but knows how to keep laboratory funds rolling smoothly too.

Elizabeth Phillips (Custodial) is known as a woman of few words and endless kindnesses. A great-grandmother at home, she is a caretaker at Rockefeller as well, cleaning offices at night.

After a snow storm several years ago, Miguel Torres (Custodial), right, volunteered as one of a small team that remained on campus for two and a half days, clearing the paths and driveways so that everyone could go about their business safely.

Ana Trilla-Hernandez (Hospital) wakes every morning in the dark to get from her home in Pennsylvania to her job at the hospital at 7 a.m., yet she has always found plenty of energy to make patients feel safe and welcome.

CELEBRATING 45 YEARS:

During his years at Rockefeller, Bruce Knight (Knight Lab) has made major contributions to our understanding of the nervous system, and especially the visual system. He was far ahead of his time in introducing the use of computers for computational and mathematical modeling of neuronal functions and in championing the early use of systems analysis to neurophysiological data.