Luis A. Miranda, Jr. & Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda Among Honorees At New York Landmarks Conservancy 'Living Landmarks' Celebration

On November 14, 2024, The New York Landmarks Conservancy will host its annual Living Landmarks Celebration at The Plaza.  This year's honorees are Ellen Futter, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda and Luis A. Miranda, Jr., Genie Rice, and Ann Ziff. 

The following previous honorees will also participate: Stephen S. Lash as Master of Ceremonies, and Oscar L. Tang, Barbara Tober, and Angela Vallot and James G. Basker as Honorary Co-Chairs for the evening.   

“Living Landmarks are accomplished New Yorkers who help preserve the City in their own special ways,” says Peg Breen, President of The New York Landmarks Conservancy.  “Our honorees have dedicated themselves to an impressive array of cultural and civic causes.” 

2024 Living Landmarks Honorees 

Ellen Futter led the American Museum of Natural History for nearly three decades. During her tenure, she reinvigorated the over 150-year-old institution and expanded its scientific and educational scope.  She spearheaded the construction of the recently opened Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, with a new state-of-the-art theater, exhibition galleries, classrooms, and a redesigned library and collections core, and of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, as well as the development of the Museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School. 

Ellen has been a nationally recognized leader in the educational and nonprofit worlds since 1980, when she became the youngest person to be appointed president of a major American college: Barnard, from which she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude.  She remained president until 1993.  Following her graduation from Columbia School of Law, Ellen began her career as an associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (now Milbank), where she practiced corporate law from 1974 to 1980. 

Ellen also has the distinction of having been the first woman to head a major New York City cultural institution and the first woman to chair the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.   

A wide range of corporations and nonprofits seek out Ellen's advice and expertise.  She was recently named interim President of the Markle Foundation, and also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group.  She serves on a number of boards and has been recognized for her leadership with numerous awards and honorary degrees. 

Audrey Gruss is President of The Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation, which supports charitable activities in the cultural arts, education and medical research.  Audrey brought the skills of her executive experience in the fields of international marketing and advertising to the nonprofit arena.  She held executive positions at J.P. Stevens and Elizabeth Arden, and was the former co-owner and President of Terme di Saturnia, Inc., an international scientific skincare firm.  Audrey was graduated with honors from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.  As a Fellow of Tufts, she established The Audrey Butvay Gruss Science Award for women. 

Audrey is the Founder and Chairman of Hope for Depression Research Foundation, which funds pioneering neuroscience research into the origins, new treatments, and prevention of depression and its related mood disorders.  She is the President of Hope Fragrances International. 

Audrey is a long-standing Board member and Benefactor of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  She is on the Chairman's Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the Director's Council of the Museum of Modern Art, Curators Circle member of the Guggenheim Museum, and Patron of Lincoln Center Theater.  Audrey is a Board member of the Victoria & Albert Museum Americas Foundation.  She is a Benefactor of the Weill Greenberg Medical Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.  She is also the key sponsor of The Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in Southampton, NY.  She is a former Board member of The Public Theater, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, the FIT Couture Council, and the Byrd Hoffman Watermill Center. 

Martin D. Gruss is Senior Manager of Gruss & Co., Inc., a private family investment firm based in Palm Beach, FL.  He received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1964 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from New York University School of Law in 1967.  He is a member of the Bar Association of the State of New York.  Martin is Chairman of The Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation, which is a Benefactor of the Weill Greenberg Medical Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and the key sponsor of The Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in Southampton, NY.   

Martin is Trustee Emeritus of the Lawrenceville School, and former member of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is a past Trustee of the St. Bernard's School, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, Lenox Hill Hospital and the Endowment for Inner-City Education.  He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. 

Martin has two children, Mr. Joshua Gruss and Mrs. Amanda Gruss Chambers, and eight grandchildren. 

Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda and Luis A. Miranda, Jr. met at NYU's Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, and three months after their first date, they were married!  Dr. Luz went on to receive her doctorate in clinical psychology and was licensed in 1985.  On the other hand, Luis found himself drawn to community action and politics after deciding not to pursue clinical psychology and closing that chapter of his life. 

Dr. Luz received a postdoctoral certificate from NYU's Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in 1998.  Her varied experiences have included assessment and treatment of foster care children, running a therapeutic nursery, and teaching family practice residents at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center and Montefiore Medical Center. 

She is frequently called on as a consultant, working with The Community Association of Progressive Dominicans, where she has been instrumental in the development of its mental health programs, and Acacia, a provider of mental health and substance abuse recovery services in the Bronx.  She has been on the Assigned Counsel Plan 18B panel in all five boroughs for more than 20 years. 

Dr. Luz worked as a clinician in a city firehouse following 9/11, from 2002 – 2004.  She serves on the board of trustees of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the American Theater Wing, and on the national board of directors of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the not-for-profit advocacy and nonpartisan political arm of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.  She served on the New York State Board of Psychology from 2000 – 2020. 

 Luis A. Miranda, Jr. has had four decades of experience as a leader in the public, private, political, and advocacy sectors.  He has held managerial positions at Aspira of New York, Community Service Society, and National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering prior to becoming a special advisor for Hispanic Affairs to Mayor Ed Koch.  He continued to serve in key roles for the Dinkins and Giuliani administrations, including becoming the board chair of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.  Luis was founding partner of the MirRam Group, consulting on several successful political campaigns, including the senatorial campaigns of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Most recently he managed New York Attorney General Letitia James' successful reelection. 

He is the founding president of the Hispanic Federation and is currently the chairperson of the Latino Victory Fund, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Viva Broadway, and The Public Theater.  He is a board member of The City, and former chair of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.  Luis shepherds all the family's philanthropic endeavors, which span increasing people of color's representation throughout the arts and government, ensuring access to women's reproductive health, and preserving and strengthening the arts in Puerto Rico.  

In 2020, HBO's documentary Siempre, Luis chronicled his life including his migration to New York in 1974 and leading his family's tireless work after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico.  Luis' memoir, Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America, was released by Hachette Books in both English and Spanish on May 7, 2024.  In Relentless, he shares the fascinating narrative of his life and career—from his early days as a radically-minded Puerto Rican activist to his decades of political advice. 

Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda and Luis Miranda have been married for 46 years and raised Luz Miranda-Crespo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Miguel Towns in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights/Inwood. They are the proud grandparents of six. 

Genie Rice attended Bradford College, the University of Montpellier, the Sorbonne, and graduated with a BA from Boston University.  She then studied Art Education at New York University. 

Her first jobs included working in Washington DC for the public television station followed by coordinating traveling exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution as well as community development through art projects at the New York State Council on the Arts. She then changed hats and worked in education at the Diller-Quaille School of Music and as co-director of the Mother-Child workshop for the YWCA. 

Genie's work in zoning, planning, building regulations and community development began with her involvement with the Alliance to Preserve the Warburg Mansion and culminated with the founding of CIVITAS Citizens in 1981 with August Hecksher as Chairman and Genie as President.  She has been Chairwoman since 2003. 

In the 1980's and 1990's, she and fellow CIVITAS activists including Marcia Fowle, Jim Tripp, and Cora Shelton spearheaded the partial demolition of a residential high rise at 108 East 96th Street.  The building was 31 stories.  Research conducted by Genie discovered that, due to the building's location in a Special District the zoning only authorized 210' or 19 stories. She followed that discovery with sustained advocacy and legal intervention and eventually the top 12 illegal stories were demolished.  Additional CIVITAS accomplishments include the passage of contextual zoning modifications for the Upper East Side and high-density avenues in other parts the City and the beginning of the 2003 rezoning of East Harlem to preserve neighborhood character and affordable housing opportunities. 

In addition to CIVITAS, Genie was a trustee of Clark University, and on the boards of the YWCA, the Park Avenue Armory and Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts. She also volunteered for other non-profits including the Church of the Heavenly Rest and the Museum of Modern Art. 

Genie is married to retired businessman and attorney, Donald S. Rice and is mother of Alice Rice Perkins and Genie Egerton-Warburton. 

Ann Ziff is Chairman of the Metropolitan Opera.  Her work supports the Met Opera in its mission to present opera at the highest artistic level to audiences around the world.   

Ann is a dedicated philanthropist, with a focus on the arts, education, culture, and environmental conservation.  She was co-founder and founding Chairman of Smile Train, served as Chairman of the Rainforest Alliance, and served on the boards of Carnegie Hall, Conservation International, Lang Lang International Music Foundation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Maloto, an organization that provides education and housing for abused and abandoned girls in Malawi.  She is currently on the boards of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Sing For Hope, the Los Angeles Opera, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, and World Science Festival.  Ann is board emerita of the American Museum of Natural History, and New York Restoration Project.  She was the founder and producer of the Caribbean Community Theater in St. Croix.    

A psychiatric social worker for many years, Ann continues to work to help children in need and bring culture and arts into the lives of young people.  She has a Master of Social Work from New York University and a Master's in Music Therapy from Temple University.  She is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance.  Ann was a guest lecturer at Oxford University's Worcester College and Saïd Business School.  She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from The Manhattan School of Music, an Honorary Doctorate degree in Humanities from Wittenberg University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the Juilliard School.  In 2023, Ms. Ziff was named ceremonial Godmother to the ship Viking Saturn, one of the new ships in the cruise line's ocean fleet.  

Ann has her own jewelry company and designs and makes jewelry under the eponymous label Tamsen Z.  She has a connoisseur's eye for the world's most exceptional gems, and her work captures the exquisite beauty of these stones in handcrafted pieces that are one of a kind, inspired by her experiences from her travels and her love of culture, art, and music.