By TIFFANY RAZZANO
"It's a difficult decision," Lipton told the Herald in May. "I truly enjoy doing positive things for this village and have enjoyed the opportunity to use my business and legislative knowledge to help the village." He has said he will be stepping down for personal, family reasons. "There's an awful lot going on in my family life. It's unfair to one's family when you run for office or serve in office. You give a lot of his time."
Still, he doesn't rule out a comeback to village politics in the future. "Mayor [Eugene Murray], how old were you when you first ran for trustee? 58? Well I'm only 55, so you never know," he joked at the June board meeting.
"Wayne has been a big asset to our village," Murray said. "He always had the village in his heart. He's very knowledgeable. He always kept current on whatever issues were going on. He was very helpful to me as deputy mayor, and he was always available when I called him to work on something."
"I've known a lot of people in politics, and I've never known anyone to be more selfless, dedicated and compassionate towards the village and its residents," said Charles Casolaro, president of the Home Rule party, to which Lipton belongs. "He's the ideal for what public service should be. I'm more than sorry he's not running. I think the Village will feel the loss of Wayne Lipton."
Lipton has always been very active in the village. He was a founding member of the board of the Rockville Centre Education Foundation, as well as past president of the Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts and board member of the RVC Community Fund. Prior to joining the Board of Trustees, he was a member of the Planning Board for 10 years, serving as chairman for several of those years. He also is a former executive vice president of Central Synagogue, a past member of the Board of B'nai Sholom and also served as chairman of the RVC Human Rights Commission.
He plans on remaining active with the Guild for the Arts as well as the South Shore Symphony. Lipton has performed as principal cellist of the symphony for the last 19 years. For the past 17 years, he has served as symphony chairman.
A Rockville Centre resident for 27 years, Lipton has been married to his wife Karen, a Nassau County Assistant District Attorney, for nearly 30 years. The couple has three children: Alex, 18, Sarah, 21, and Adam, 24.
Lipton graduated from Baldwin High School in 1969. He went on to Harvard College, where he graduated from in 1973 with a degree in biochemistry. After this he also studied at the University of Chicago Business School and the Boston Architectural Center.
He returned to New York to work for his family's business, a health and beauty aid store in Cedarhurst. Lipton purchased the company, Richmind Way Drug Store, from his father when he retired, developing it into a small chain of retail drug stores, with its headquarters located in Rockville Centre.
In 2001, Lipton began to work for Concierge Care, a new model of primary care delivery, before starting Concierge Choice Physicians, LLC, a service and marketing company that helps primary care doctors provide more personalized care. Currently, he is managing partner of this company. His responsibilities with the company, he says, are part of the reason he is leaving his position as trustee.
Comments about this story? TRazzano@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 221.
