Mar 26, 2007 -- With more than 1,431 years of service behind them, the 78 members of staff and faculty at Yeshiva University’s Service Recognition Luncheon on Wednesday, March 4, had much to celebrate. The event honored employees marking their 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, and 40th anniversaries at YU. “The ultimate lesson of education—to build community—is in the hands of the people in this room,” said President Richard M. Joel. “This is a community that stands as a model for how our students should treat the world.” For photos from the event, click here. Forty years ago, when Ethel Orlian and Rabbi Robert Hirt started working at YU, gas cost just 32 cents a gallon and the top show on TV was Bonanza. In 1966, Mrs. Orlian, now associate dean of Stern College, had just graduated from Stern and began teaching chemistry in the lab there and Rabbi Hirt, senior advisor to the president, began his fruitful career at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, rising from administrator to various leadership positions, including dean of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services. By 1976, when Jo Anne Anguilo and Sylvia Herskowitz joined the University, gas cost 59 cents a gallon and movie audiences flocked to see Rocky. Ms. Anguilo, now a systems analyst in Management Information Systems on the Wilf Campus, began working as an assistant in the registrar’s office at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ms. Herskowitz worked as director of the recently opened YU Museum, a job that she said launched her third career and changed her life. Members of the “classes” of 1966, 1976, 1981, 1986, and 1991 received service certificates and special recognition was given to three of YU’s longest-serving employees: Reuben Heisler, production database manager, who began YU’s production department as a student and returned to work there 51 years ago; Jacob Blazer, supporting services administrator with 53 years of service—35 as facilities manager; and Joseph Ellenberg, who was awarded the Presidential Medallion at commencement last year for his 62 years of service as director of budgets and costs. The following staff and faculty members were honored: 40 Years of Service Rabbi Robert Hirt Ethel Orlian 30 Years of Service Jo Anne Angiulo Sylvia Herskowitz 25 Years of Service Judith Bacher Edith Fein Hilda Garcia Florence Littwin Filiberto Lopez Jr. Luis Quintanilla Julio Rodriguez Avis Thompson Franco Vitiello Galina Vovchuk 20 Years of Service Shulamith Berger Zelda Braun George Bruno Zahava Cohen Herman Colon Albert Ephraim Norma Feld Raphael Fernandez Terry Gair Adam Gleicher Norman Goldberg Dale Hochstein Gloria Marin Raphael Montas Joseph Motta Alexander Ratnovsky Sondra Solomon Toby Stone Judy Tashji Errol Thompson 15 Years of Service Richard Brown Hallie Cantor Irina Derzhavets June Glazer Lancelot Green Nadav Greenspan Joseph Horowitz Bryan Kartzman Bettye Knight Brian Shanblatt Albert Stulman 10 Years of Service Rochelle Brand Rose Calka Victor Campos Luis Caraballo Orlando Castillo Bienvenido Castro Louis Chillino Frank Del Vecchio Ursuline Destouche Stuart Donner Francisco Garcia Wendy Ingram-Nunes Leonard Judson Angel Landeta Matthew Levine Ruben Lopez Malka Micznik Tonnie McRae Verol Nelson Chaim Nissel Frances Nitschke Anselmo Pena Diane Paul Roy Ramprasad Neury Rodriguez Jose Ruiz Henry Sokoler Jose Velazquez Kecheng Yu Walter Zee Special Recognition Jacob Blazer (53 years) Joseph Ellenberg (62 years) Reuben Heisler (51 years)