MICHAEL MANIA
NEW YORK — The night belonged to three Michaels — and one Ralph — Tuesday when the American Jewish Committee presented its National Human Relations Award at a black-tie dinner at the New York Hilton. The event raised $2,700,000 for AJC.
The honorees were Michael Newman, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Polo Ralph Lauren, and Michael Steinberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s West. Presenting to Steinberg was Bloomingdale’s Michael Gould, the dinner chairman. Ralph Lauren, presenting to Newman, called him the man who “really runs the show.” But he began his speech by acknowledging the retail executives in the audience, whom he recently took to task at the Fairchild CEO Summit, where he said department stores are “depressing.”
“You all seem to be in good spirits,” he observed, “so I guess I don’t need a shield.”