Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto recently announced the 2004 Women of Distinction. "The 'Women of Distinction' awards committee has selected eight exceptional women as this year's Women of Distinction," said Venditto. "Once again, I commend the awards committee for doing an excellent job, making the difficult choices among so many fine nominees."

Venditto and the town board will honor this year's designees at the Tuesday, March 23, town board meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.

"My fellow town board members and I have invited the designees and their families to join us in publicly recognizing the Town's Women of Distinction," Venditto said. "Each recipient will be presented with a town citation and a special pin designed to commemorate the occasion."

The following women from the Syosset, Jericho and Woodbury area received this prestigious honor.

Phyllis Marino, a resident of Syosset was named a Distinguished Woman in Business. She is a vice president and senior retail officer for Commerce Bank and is responsible for managing a unique retail operation for Commerce Bank on Long Island. In the past year and a half, she's successfully opened 15 new stores with the expectation of opening 60 by 2007, including two more in the Town of Oyster Bay.

Prior to her work at Commerce Bank, Marino was senior management at The Dime Savings Bank of New York and Citibank with over 20 years experience with financial services.

She has arranged for Commerce Bank to be a sponsor for the town's Music Under the Stars summer concert series and serves as a board member of the Long Island Center for Business and Professional Women.

Marino is very active in the community including her position of vice president of the Board of Girl Scouts of Nassau County as well as chair of its Fund Development Committee. She is a board member of the American Heart Association, Long Island, a corporate partner of the Long Island Children's Museum, served on the Gala Dinner Committee for UCP of Suffolk County, and is a member of the Garden City Kiwanis. Marino is an advocate for the March of Dimes and in 2003 was named a Woman of Distinction by their organization. Marino has also served as co-chair of Girl Scouts of Nassau County's Annual Luncheon and Christ Church of Garden City's Annual Harvest Fair. She was recently elected to the Vestry of Christ Church.

Marino is the proud mother of two sons in college, Tim and Matt. She resides in Syosset with her husband, Kenneth Robinson.

Amy Stein, a resident of Jericho, was named this year's Distinguished Woman in Education. Her husband Michael Moskowitz nominated her by writing a letter to the town about his wife. "My husband didn't tell me that he nominated me until after he had submitted the letter," said Stein. "He wrote such a beautiful letter that once I saw it, I already felt like a winner."

Stein left a successful career as a practicing lawyer to become a legal writing instructor at Hofstra University School of Law, where she teaches legal writing, legal research and appellate advocacy to first and second year law students.

In her three years teaching at Hofstra, she has had many students selected to Hofstra's law reviews and other journals. She is an advisor to one of Hofstra's law reviews and assists students with their law review articles and in finding employment. Additionally, she is past vice president of education for her local Hadassah chapter and teaches a Law Day program for grades 2 through 5 at a local elementary school. In 2000, she was recognized by Long Island Business News as one of its 40 Under 40 award recipients.

Stein will be attending next week's ceremony with family, including her husband and two daughters Sarah and Rachel.

Dorothy Blumstein, a resident of Woodbury, was recently named a Distinguished Woman in Government. She has been in involved with the Town of Oyster Bay's Cultural and Performing Arts (CAPA) Division of the Department of Community and Youth Services for more than 20 years. She helped develop and expand many programs such as Rotational Art, the Distinguished Artists Concerts series and the Children's Music-Go-Round. She also served as executive director of the Town of Oyster Bay Arts Council, Inc., and sits on the Selection Board of the New York State Council on the Arts' Decentralization Program.

Blumstein's career with the town began in 1973 when she started part-time work there and coordinated the pre-kindergarten program, which was natural being a former kindergarten teacher. Five years later, she started full-time and was assistant to the superintendent of the cultural arts division.

In 1985, she took over the Town of Oyster Bay Arts Council as executive director and coordinated many events. "I wore two hats -the community service hat with the department and the arts council was a separate entity in the same department," said Blumstein, who retired a year and a half ago, but still remains very active in the Town of Oyster Bay Arts Council and the New York State Council of the Arts Decentralization program.

Blumstein, who is unsure who nominated her for the women of distinction award, but said she assumes it was someone from arts council, said she loves working with the arts and children. "The arts council does a lot for children to encourage them to follow their dreams in the arts. We raise a lot of money for scholarships for them," she said. "This is a wonderful honor. I am very excited about this," concluded Blumstein who will be attending the ceremony with her family, including Husband Neal, son Wade and daughter-in-law Robin. Her other son Heath and daughter-in-law Lisa reside in Arizona.

Saundra M. Gumerove, a resident of Jericho, was named the 2004 Distinguished Woman in Health Services. She has been a member of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children's board of directors since 1993 and recently joined the board of directors of the Marcus Avenue Early Childhood Developmental Program, Inc.

As an attorney, she has done extensive pro bono work in connection with the rights of the developmentally disabled, representing parents and children in Individualized Education Plan (IEP meetings) and impartial hearings. In 2002, she was elected delegate to the Board of Governors of NYSARC, Inc., formerly the New York State Association for Retarded Children, the largest not-for-profit agency in the nation serving persons with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

AHRC nominated her for this award. She also is a member of the Jericho School Board, her civic association board, board of governors for AHRC and vice president of the AHRC board.

"I am very involved with issues in education and involving the developmentally disabled. I am also the chair person of the legislative committee," said Gumerove. "I am so excited to be honored this way and never would have expected to win. It is an amazing feeling to have someone recognize what you do and honor you for it."

Gumerove said the support of her family including three children Lauren, Sarah and Meira and husband Jeff Bernstein, has been incredible.

Eileen Gentilcore, a resident of Syosset, was named a Distinguished Woman Volunteer for 2004. She has a long record of volunteerism and community service. The former principal of the South Grove Elementary School has been an active member of the Syosset/Woodbury Rotary since 1988. She served as president for two years and, in 1997, was elected president of the Rotary International "Gift of Life" program, which helps needy children throughout the world who require corrective heart surgery. Many times, she has met the children at the airport, escorted them to St. Francis Hospital, visited them during their stay and then escorted them back to the airport for their trip home.

Gentilcore has gone on medical missions to Russia, Honduras and China. In 1998, while she was district governor, she helped organize an aid drive that shipped 20 tons of food, water and clothing to victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. She has served on the Rotary International Task Force for "Children at Risk," the Task Force for Avoidable Blindness to meet the needs of the blind and visually handicapped and the Group Study Exchange Program, a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 and in the early years of their professional lives.

Gentilcore was brought up volunteering. "I grew up in Bayville and everyone helped everyone. I began by knitting sweaters for the Navy when I was in high school. I was always helping," said Gentilcore, whose dad was chief of police.

"This is such a great honor," she continued. "I don't think of it as anything other than helping people. This is really something to be honored for it. It is whatever you belong to, the opportunity to do it and everyone else - the people you hang out with. There are a lot of good people out there."

Gentilcore said the support of her family, including her husband James, sons Kevin, John and Scott as well as four grandchildren, has been great.

"The recipients of the 2004 'Women of Distinction" awards constitute the sixth group of designees in what is a fine and lasting tradition in the Town of Oyster Bay," Venditto said. "The honorees have dedicated themselves to service and achievement, and their remarkable accomplishments are an inspiration to us all. They serve as excellent role models for our young women throughout the town and are shining examples of the outstanding citizenship that has made the Town of Oyster Bay such a special place to live and raise a family. I am honored to recognize these fine individuals as the town's 2004 'Women of Distinction'."