Merrick Chamber names Man and Woman of the Year

Merrick Chamber of Commerce members will celebrate at the organization’s annual gala at Chateau Briand in Carle Place on Jan. 22, and two Merokeans –– Neil Yeoman and Betty Lippai –– will be honored as the organization’s Man and Woman of the Year.

Neil Yeoman
An award-winning chemical engineer, Yeoman has lived in Merrick for more than 45 years with his wife, Loretta, and has served in many volunteer positions. He has been treasurer of the Merrick Historical Society since 1975, a member of the Town of Hempstead’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee since 1988, and the South Merrick Community Civic Association’s treasurer and webmaster since 2006 and 2007, respectively

Yeoman is also a member of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Reconstruction Committee, a project of the New York Rising Program that Governor Cuomo started in Hurricane Sandy’s wake to help New Yorkers rebuild their battered homes and businesses.

Yeoman has also volunteered as a scout and synagogue leader and with the Overlook Preserve and Sanctuary Committee, whose efforts resulted in the creation of the Town of Hempstead’s Norman J. Levy Park and Preserve in south Merrick in 1998. The group is now called the Friends of Levy Park. His volunteer efforts are, in fact, too numerous to list here

A believer in lifelong learning, Yeoman has attended Nassau Community College as an auditing student under New York state’s Senior Citizen Observer Program since his retirement in 2001.

His 44-year career as a chemical engineer included 11 years as a process manager in charge of designing chemical processing plants, 14 years as a research and development director at a chemical processing equipment supplier, and eight years as a vice president and chief chemical engineer of an engineering and construction company. He has been a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers since 1956.