Chamber honors Merchant and Professional of the Year

The Merrick Chamber of Commerce recently recognized two Merokeans for their service to the community, naming Arlene Gregory as its Professional of the Year and Robert Klieger as its Merchant of the Year in a ceremony at R.S. Jones restaurant on Monday.

Gregory, a realtor with Century 21 American Homes, has lived in Merrick for more than 30 years. She has managed Century 21 offices in Merrick and Baldwin and was recently promoted to director of business development and relocation for Century 21’s Queens office. A mother of two, she is also a past president of the Merrick Kiwanis Club and a member of the Merrick Chamber’s Board of Directors. Gregory has helped the chamber step up its community engagement by suggesting and then organizing monthly chamber networking meetings.

She said being honored for her work was humbling. “I’m really happy and proud that they chose me as the Professional of the Year,” Gregory said. “I’m a person that likes to do the work, but I kind of like the background. That’s my personality … I feel really proud that they think that much of me that they’ve given me this honor.”

Klieger, a pharmacist and owner of Savall Drug Store on Merrick Avenue, has lived in Merrick for more than 50 years. Savall was founded in 1947 and is among the community’s oldest family-owned businesses. Klieger bought the store from his aunt in the mid-1970s after his uncle died. Today he is a father of two, grandfather of six and a member of the Long Island Pharmacists Society’s Board of Directors, and he still works at Savall most days. Klieger also received the chamber’s Merchant of the Year award in 1985.

He said he is proud that many of his clients are now second- or third-generation Savall customers. “I’m really honored, particularly to win for the second time,” Klieger said. “I guess it shows that I’m still the same person that I was then, and the wonderful people that come into the store are still the same wonderful people that appreciate what a good pharmacy is.”

The chamber’s scholarship recipients were Calhoun High School seniors Sean Heverin and Sean McGinn, Kennedy seniors James Dachille and Joshua Dreyer, and Mepham seniors Ilyssa Daniels and Michael DeMiceli.