SARA NY Design Awards Honors Kathy Firneis

SARA NY held its 2021 Design Awards Gala this past October 26th at the fantastic TWA Terminal in New York. As part of the celebration, a special Honor was bestowed to the family of the late Kathy Firneis.

From Tamar Kisilvitz, ARA, who presented this Honor:

Last year we lost our dear Kathy, a cherished member of the SARA family for decades, mother of Kyle and Brian, and beloved wife of Bob Firneis, past national president of SARA and treasurer of SARANY for over 20 years. Kathy’s family, including her mother and sister, are here with us tonight.

This is our first design awards event without Kathy. If you have been to one of these before, Kathy was the lady who would seek out all the student winners and bring them over to you, the architects, to make sure they got maximum exposure and recognition, and often employment and mentorship. And this did not come naturally to her: she was a shy person, which makes it more remarkable.

Kathy would have been delighted to see Robinson Strong, past winner of our Sean F Mellon scholarship, receive multiple design awards for his firm’s work, coming full circle from student winner to professional winner.

So it means the world to us at SARANY that the Firneis family agreed to have the student design award of excellence dedicated in Kathy’s name. This will ensure that the Firneis family legacy is forever joined with their SARA family.