Joel Grey, Brooke Shields & More to be Honored as 2013 Living Landmarks on 11/14

Each year, the New York Landmarks Conservancy recognizes distinguished New Yorkers who have made extraordinary contributions to the City and honors them as Living Landmarks at a gala in the fall. This year The New York Landmarks Conservancy will honor Ann L. Buttenwieser, Robert I. Grossman, MD, William vanden Heuvel (Lew Rudin Award), Mary Wells Lawrence, and Broadway veterans Joel Grey and Brooke Shields on November 14, at the Plaza. The special celebration will be hosted by Living Landmark Liz Smith.

Ann L. Buttenwieser is a waterfront planner, urban historian, parks advocate and writer. She is the Founder and President of the Neptune Foundation. On July 4, 2007, she opened the nation's only floating swimming pool on the industrial waterfront of Brooklyn. Her academic positions include Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning and Historic Preservation, and Adjunct Professor in the Macaulay Honors Program at Hunter College, CUNY. She has worked in virtually every City agency with a waterfront portfolio. Among her not-for-profit activities are the NYC Swim Council, of which she is co-chair, whose goal is to teach every second grader in NYC's public schools to swim; she is a Board member of the Skyscraper Museum and a former Trustee of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation; and she is a founder and now emeritus member of the Board of New Yorkers 4 Parks. Ann is the author of Governors Island: The Jewel of New York Harbor, (Syracuse University Press, 2009) andManhattan Water-Bound (Syracuse University Press, 1999).

Joel Grey has created indelible stage roles since making his theatrical debut at 9 performing in On Borrowed Time at his hometown theater, the Cleveland Playhouse. Two decades later he made his Broadway debut in Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn. Since then, his numerous Broadway credits include Stop the World I Want to Get Off, George M!, The Grand Tour, Wicked and Anything Goes. Joel's dramatic stage roles include Marco Polo Sings a Solo, Platonov, Give Me Your Answer, Do! and The Normal Heart, which he also co-directed. His work has earned five Tony nominations, winning once (Cabaret); three Drama Desk Awards, winning twice (Chicago and The Normal Heart); and the Academy Award, Golden Globe and British Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Cabaret. Other film credits include Man on A Swing, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, The Seven Percent Solution, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Kafka, The Player, The Music of Chance, The Fantasticks, Dancer in the Dark and Choke. Recent television appearances include "Law and Order: CI," "House," "Private Practice," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Nurse Jackie." Joel is also an accomplished photographer. He has four books of photographs, Pictures I Had to Take, Looking Hard at Unexamined Things, 1.3 - Images From My Phone and The Billboard Papers which was released this fall.

As Dean and CEO of NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Robert I. Grossman leads both the NYU School of Medicine and the NYU Hospitals Center. Dr. Grossman joined NYU in 2001 as chairman of the Department of Radiology, and Professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and physiology and neuroscience. A prolific and highly respected scientist, Dr. Grossman was awarded the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his work on multiple sclerosis. He was a member and Chairman of the Diagnostic Radiology Study Section at NIH and was appointed to the NIH's National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Dr. Grossman was the first recipient of the American Society of Neuroradiology Education and the Research Foundation's annual Outstanding Contributions in Research Award. He has also received the International Society in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine's Gold Medal for his pioneering research. He was named a Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bordeaux. Dr. Grossman is also a passionate educator and widely published scholar. He has trained over 100 fellows and authored more than 300 publications and five books.

William vanden Heuvel is the Chairman of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, Chairman and CEO of Four Freedoms Park Conservancy and Founder and Chair Emeritus of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Ambassador vanden Heuvel served as Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, U.S. Ambassador to the European Office of the UN and Special Counsel to New York Governor Averell Harriman. An international lawyer, he is a Senior Advisor to Allen & Co. and Of Counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. In addition, he was President of the International Rescue Committee, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the UN Association of the United States and Chairman of the New York City Board of Correction. Early in his career, Ambassador vanden Heuvel was the Executive Assistant to William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan and later served as Special Assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Ambassador vanden Heuvel is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Other current and past posts include Chair Emeritus of the Council of American Ambassadors, Vice-Chair of the World Federation of UN Associations, Chair of the Salzburg Medical Seminars International and Chairman Emeritus of the American Friends of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Mary Wells Lawrence, pioneering advertising executive, broke the glass ceiling in the 1970s when she founded Wells Rich Greene. Her most memorable campaigns include the unforgettable "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz" and Braniff Airlines, which she saved with a bold strategy that included brightly painted planes and designer uniforms for the flight attendants and crews. These early successes led Governor Hugh Carey to turn to her during the 1970s fiscal crisis, resulting in the iconic "I Heart New York" campaign. Mary was the first female CEO to take a company public and on to the New York Stock Exchange. She was selected by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller for his Commission on Critical Choices for America and was inducted in both the Advertising Hall of Fame and The One Club's Creative Hall of Fame. Ad Age says: "She is advertising's most widely publicized symbol of glamour, success, wealth, brains and beauty." In recent years, Mary wrote a memoir, A Big Life - In Advertising and is busy on another book. She also co-founded wowOwow, a website created, owned and written by women for women.

Brooke Shields began her career at 11 months of age when she was selected as the Ivory Snow Baby, and by age 3 was a runway model. At 9, she began her film career in Alice Sweet Alice and gained fame after starring in Pretty Baby,Blue Lagoon and Endless Love. As a model, Shields has graced the covers of hundreds of magazines. In addition to her film achievements, Brooke has maintained a successful and critically acclaimed television career. Her work on "Suddenly Susan" garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. She is the recipient of five People's Choice Awards, and was featured in "Lipstick Jungle" and currently stars in "Army Wives." Brooke has also authored several books, includingThe Brooke Book, On Your Own and Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. She has recently branched out into the world of children's books, penning Welcome To Your World, Baby and It's the Best Day Ever, Dad! Shortly after graduating from Princeton, she made her Broadway debut as Rizzo in Grease, for which she earned the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut on Broadway. Brooke went on to star in Chicago, Wonderful Town, Cabaret, The Addams Family and Girls Talk. In 2012, she starred in John Pielmeier's adaptation of The Exorcist.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos