On Friday, June 2, the Hudson River Museum will host Making Waves: A Hudson River Museum Gala. This is our most important fundraiser of the year, providing essential resources to the HRM and celebrating four outstanding honorees: actress Donna Murphy, the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, artist Leonardo Ilianov De La Cruz, and award-winning journalist, author, and HRM Trustee Mary Calvi.

Today, we are spotlighting Mary Calvi, who is a 14-time New York Emmy Award–winning journalist, serving as co-anchor of the daily morning and noon news broadcasts at WCBS-TV in New York City, and anchor for Inside Edition Weekend. Mary, who is also the first lady of Yonkers, is an outstanding advocate for Yonkers and Westchester arts and culture. Her dedication to the arts and history is evident in her longtime support of the Hudson River Museum as a committed member of our Board of Trustees, a dynamic featured program participant, and a vocal champion of our work.

Mary is also an accomplished historical fiction author. Dear George, Dear Mary (St. Martin’s Press, 2019) explores the relationship between George Washington and his first love, the richest belle of Colonial America, Mary Eliza Philipse. Crafted from thousands of archived letters, witness accounts, journal entries, documents, and published articles, the novel tells the story of how unrequited love helped spark a flame that ignited a cause that became the American Revolution. If a Poem Could Live and Breathe (St. Martin’s Press, 2023), is another fact-based romantic novel, this time about Teddy Roosevelt and his first love Alice Lee. It makes vivid what many historians believe to be the pivotal years that made the future president into the man of action that defined his political life, and cemented his legacy.

Please join us in congratulating Mary on this honor and her exceptional contributions to our Museum and community!