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Contact: Gail Donovan
Donovan Communications
718-399-2122

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BROOKLYN PSYCHIATRIC CENTERS
HONORS DENISE ARBESU OF NORTH FORK BANK

BROOKLYN, NY—October 29, 2002— Denise Arbesu, vice president of North Fork Bank, was honored by Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, Inc. with its first Judge Robert J. Wilkin Award for Commitment to Community at the agency’s gala evening on Friday, October 25, 2002, at the New York Marriott, Brooklyn.

Upon accepting the award, Ms. Arbesu, who is active in many civic organizations, stressed the importance of giving back to the community, and praised Judge Wilkin, the founder of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, for having the vision to help immigrant children in Brooklyn more than 100 year ago.

Borough President Marty Markowitz also recognized Ms. Arbesu with a proclamation declaring October 25, 2002, “Denise Arbesu Day” in Brooklyn. Borough President Markowitz said when Ms. Arbesu gets involved in an organization, “she does it Brooklyn style. She is indeed the best of Brooklyn.”

At North Fork Bank, Ms. Arbesu is a vice president in the Private Banking Group and works out of the North Fork Bank branch in downtown Brooklyn. She is responsible for developing new business in Brooklyn, as well as maintaining existing business accounts. Ms. Arbesu has developed an expertise in lending to nonprofit organizations and serves on the board of directors of several organizations as well as on various fund raising committees.

Born in Cuba, Ms. Arbesu settled with her family in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and moved to New York City in 1983 where she began her financial career. She is very active in the community and is currently involved as a board member of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown Alliance, the American Lung Association of New York, the American Cancer Society, Queens Child Guidance Center, BRIC, the Contemporary Credit Club, 475-Esquire-Toppers Credit Club, New York Institute of Credit, and National Association of Female Executives.

Ms. Arbesu received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, graduated Summa Cum Laude from the New York Institute of Credit’s Graduate Finance Program in 1989, and completed NatWest Bank’s Advanced Credit Training Program in 1996. She resides in Brooklyn.

Farley Nachemin, vice president of the Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers board, told guests that because Ms. Arbesu is so active in the community it is fitting that she receive the first award named for Judge Robert J. Wilkin, who founded Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers in 1907 and charged the organization with helping vulnerable children. In his distinguished career in child welfare, Judge Wilkin worked for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, was head of the legal bureau of the Children’s Society in Brooklyn and Long Island, helped establish the Brooklyn Children’s Court in 1902, and was appointed a judge for that court the same year. Judge Wilkin remained on the bench of the Brooklyn Children’s Court for 25 years and was the presiding judge when he died in 1927 at the age of 67.

Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers provides borough-wide mental health services to Brooklyn’s most vulnerable residents through its clinics in Bushwick, Canarsie, Flastbush-Sheepshead Bay, Williamsburg-Greenpoint, and downtown Brooklyn and the borough’s public schools. Its diverse staff of more than 100 professionals provide more than 60,000 visits annually to adults, seniors, children and their families. Public funding and government contracts comprise 90 percent of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers’ income, but the remainder must be raised from the community. For more information, see www.bpcinc.org.