Will Jay Sessa, seen at the recent BRCC Presidents Luncheon with former Fort Hamilton High School Principal Alice Farkouh, receive the BRCC's highest honor?
“JAY’S THE GUY!” headlined a recent email I sent to a colleague, who quickly replied in agreement, “Jay’s The Guy!”
JAY, in this case, is the suave civic and business leader Jay Sessa, who, in this writer’s view, would be eminently qualified to receive the Bay Ridge Community Council’s Civic Award which, for 57 years, has been the most visible civic honor in Greater Bay Ridge.
I ADMIT a personal bias here. Some decades ago when I served as Executive Editor of The Home Reporter & Sunset News I ran a story and photo about a youthful golfing phenom by the name of “Joseph Sessa.”
I’VE FOLLOWED his career ever since, as he’s married the lovely daughter of a late revered colleague, Jack Anderson, and became active in our community, where thousands know him as Jay Sessa, proprietor with daughter Courtney of McLaughlin & Sons Funeral Home, and as a man who gives freely of his time and resources for vital local causes.
JAY SESSA is not the kind of guy who asks for public accolades for his civic work, but over the years, I’ve noted many of them here, such as his former vice presidency of the Bay Ridge Community Council, his current service as a vice president of the Merchants of Third Avenue, a trustee of the St. Nicholas Home and a board member of the Guild for Exceptional Children.
FOR MORE than a decade, he has overseen the M.T.A.’s costly, complex and vital Holiday Lights program which brings warmth to thousands over the chilly celebratory season.
THE M.T.A has honored him as a Pioneer, an award which is given for “extraordinary service to Third Avenue and the entire community of Bay Ridge.” And he has also received the Ragamuffin Parade “Man of the Year” award. What’s next for Jay?
Chuck Otey's Bay Ridge 