400 honor Crest Furniture's Simon Kaplan on dinner cruise

New York event raises $170,000 for City of Hope

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 9/12/2011 11:21:31 AM

Some 400 industry leaders and guests gathered in New York this weekend to pay tribute to Crest Furniture President Simon Kaplan during an inaugural dinner cruise around Manhattan.

Simon Kaplan of Crest Furniture, Dayton, N.J., accepts an award for lifelong industry achievement and commitment to the City of Hope from Patrick Cory of Cory Home Delivery Service, who chairs the City of Hope’s Northeast region.The benefit event - on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 - raised $170,000 for the City of Hope for research and treatment programs for cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Guests enjoyed a silent auction, dinner, dancing and other entertainment as they cruised the Hudson River on the yacht Cornucopia, seeing sights including one of new World Trade Center buildings under construction, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

Kaplan, an industry icon, is founder of Dayton, N.J.-based Crest Furniture, a Top 100 company operating seven Value City Furniture and six Ashley Furniture HomeStores (with a seventh coming next year) in New Jersey. The stores are not affiliated with Columbus, Ohio-based American Signature, which operates Value City Furniture stores.

Kaplan also is president of industry buying group Furniture Marketing Group.

The event was the first in the Northeast for the City of Hope's National Home Furnishings Industry chapter.

See the Sept. 19 print issue of Furniture/Today for more coverage and photos.