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It was an evening to honor America’s heroes.
John and Margo Catsimatidis hosted WABC Radio and the George Pataki Leadership Center’s gala concert to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday night.
As well as the fallen, the event at Cipriani 42nd Street honored the former governor, along with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and famed New York Post columnist Cindy Adams.
Adams kicked off the evening, introducing Dolan with a little racy comedy. After organizers told her she only had two minutes to speak, she quipped that the last she time she heard “just two minutes” it was on her wedding night.
“You didn’t hear that, did you?” she asked the Cardinal.
Dolan opened the evening with a prayer, reading from Psalm 46. “God bless you and God bless this beautiful evening. God bless this city and God bless America. Amen! Hallelujah! Thank you,” he said.
Gov. Pataki reflected on Sept. 11, 2001, telling Page Six, “I think 25 years later, it’s important that we honor people who were so courageous on that day, and for the weeks and months thereafter. And as distant as 25 years seems, it’s like yesterday.”
“And the sense of loss – the sense of horror, the attacks that we suffered, we just have to honor the memory of those we lost, the memory of those who responded so courageously adnd never forget,” he added.
WABC host Cousin Brucie emceed the event and Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Tony Orlando honored American troops in Iran by performing “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Ole Oak Tree,” and Joe Piscopo led the room in a singalong of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
Former New York Gov. David Paterson, former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, Nassau County executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich were also in attendance. Meanwhile, Gristides founder, WABC owner and real estate mogul Catsimatidis celebrated his birthday with Pataki joining him to blow out candles as the room saluted America’s 250th anniversary, we’re told.
The gala raised $1.5 million for the George Pataki Leadership Center, New York City Police Athletic League, Tunnel to Towers Foundation and WABC Foundation.
Catsimatidis concluded the evening, telling Page Six, “everybody has to remember that we’re never gonna forget 9/11, and everybody has to remember how angry the American people get if you try to harm our people!”
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