200 attend Friends of Mercy St. Patrick's dinner in Rockville Centre

A cold rain didn’t deter a crowd of nearly 200 attendees from turning out for The Friends of Mercy Medical Center’s 45th annual Gentlemen’s St. Patrick’s Dinner.

The black-tie event on March 10 at the Hempstead Golf and Country Club honored Francis X. Murray, former member of the hospital’s Board of Trustees, president of the Board of Trustees of the Mercy Foundation and long-time member and former president of The Friends who is running for mayor.

Dr. Alan Guerci, the hospital’s president and CEO, was presented with a check for $188,000, representing the proceeds of The Friends’ 2010 fund-raising efforts, which supported the acquisition of new state-of-the-art cardiology diagnostic equipment. In the past five years, The Friends have raised more than $1.3 million in support of the hospital’s facilities.

This year’s event, chaired by Chris Browne of Rockville Centre, an attorney in Garden City, included remarks from featured speaker former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato, founder and Managing Director of the public policy and business development firm Park Strategies, LLC, and was underwritten by Neurological Surgery, PC, the largest private neurosurgery practice on Long Island.