EAST BRUNSWICK — East Brunswick Education Foundation (EBEF) trustees will honor educators Jeffrey Lesser and Mariann Zema along with community members Dr. V. Raja Bandaru and Dr. Steve Susskind of Susskind Dental during its 23rd Annual Partner in Excellence Dinner.
The event will be held at 6 p.m. on April 12 at the Pines Manor in Edison. Tickets are $70 each.
Each year, recognition is bestowed upon individuals and/or organizations that epitomize the foundation’s mission to enhance and enrich the educational experience for the students attending the East Brunswick Public Schools.
For the past eight years of Partner in Excellence Award Dinners, Lesser was the trumpet player in the lobby performing with the Admin Quartet. His love of music and the arts in general led him to a 35-year career in the public schools, having served the students of New Jersey as a music teacher and high school band director, department chair and supervisor in two school districts.
In 2007, Lesser came to East Brunswick. With the support of administration and the EBEF, he initiated the Arts Education Concert Series, with professional and world-class performers engaging students and the community through workshops and concerts. Some of these groups include the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York Voices, the Shanghai String Quartet, and the United States Air Force Concert Band and Singing Sergeants.
Under his leadership, all 11 schools were identified in the top 10 percent of the New Jersey Arts Education census, and East Brunswick High School was named a New Jersey Model School for the Arts. Program offerings were expanded, and enrollment in the arts grew. During the first year of the census, EBHS arts enrollment topped 81 percent, while the state average stood at less than 48 percent.
Lesser retired in July 2015 as East Brunswick’s supervisor of Arts Education.
Zema has worked as a speech and language specialist in East Brunswick for 27 years. In 1992, she was the recipient of the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Teacher at Lawrence Brook School.
In 1993, she played an instrumental role in starting East Brunswick’s Speech/Language Program for students who are on the autistic spectrum. For the past 23 years, Zema’s caseload has mainly consisted of students on the autism spectrum. For 20 years, three nights a week, she provided a total home-based program designed to teach functional life skills. In 2002, Zema was the recipient of the Autism New Jersey/COSAC Teacher of the Year Award.
For the past 13 years, Zema has been at the helm of organizing East Brunswick’s district-wide Denim Day for Autism Awareness. The proceeds from this event are shared with Autism New Jersey and the East Brunswick Education Foundation.
Throughout the years, Zema has actively pursued EBEF grants to assist her in providing new and stimulating materials for her speech and language sessions.
She shows her commitment to the EBEF by attending the Fall Fashion Show and several times has read a book at the Barnes & Noble Book Fair, where a percentage of all sales is donated to benefit the EBEF.
Bandaru was born in India and is a longtime resident of East Brunswick, having moved to town in 1984 because of the atmosphere and school system.
Bandaru and his family have been actively involved in East Brunswick in-school and extracurricular activities, have raised money for various school activities and have been major donors to the EBEF.
Bandaru is also involved in cultural, educational and interfaith activities in the community, serving as a Hindu chaplain at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. He also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University.
Bandaru is the founder of Trinity Consultants Inc., a 30-year New Jersey-based telecommunications management consulting and systems integration company. He was a member of the faculty of electrical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India, and IIT Delhi before moving to England where he worked for 10 years in areas of digital process control, systems engineering and development and manufacture of optical fiber technology.
Bandaru was a member of the team that harnessed the development and manufacture of optical fiber technology in England — one of the first teams in the world to do so. He was a pioneering member of the team that initiated and developed network management systems for telecommunications and services at Bell Laboratories. Bandaru initiated and managed research, product and technology development in biomedical engineering.
Bandaru has published and lectured extensively in the areas of biomedical engineering, telecommunications, control engineering, management science, Vedanta and Indic studies. He has received several awards and honors in his educational and professional career including the title of Veda Vidya Rakshak (Protector of Vedic Knowledge) by the World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) in July 2006.
Bandaru is a keen student of Telegu literature, Sanskrit, ancient Indian history, philosophy and evolution of Indian culture through the ages. He teaches Sanskrit and Hinduism, and has authored five books on Sanskrit grammar. He often represents Hinduism at interfaith meetings and is keenly involved in the development of youth.
Susskind has been a member and board trustee of EBEF since 2007 and a contributor since 1997. He has been acting as an EBEF-Student Association (SA) mentor since its inception in 2011.
Susskind is a general, cosmetic, restorative and family dentist who opened his practice in East Brunswick in 1996 after working in New York City for four years. After graduating from Rutgers University, he attended UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School in Newark. Upon graduation he became the chief dental resident at his General Practice Residency Program at the East Orange Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Susskind is a life member of the American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, New Jersey Dental Association and Middlesex County Dental Society. He was a founding member and officer for the Centric Dental Study Club as well as vice president and treasurer of the Brunswick Dental Study Club. He was a past member of the Newark Dental Study Club and the Academy of Sports Dentistry.
While living and working in New York City, Susskind was the dentist for the Athletic Department of New York University. He currently holds a position on the State of New Jersey Peer Review Committee.
Susskind moved to East Brunswick in 1996. He volunteered his time coaching for the East Brunswick Baseball League, East Brunswick Soccer Club and East Brunswick Fast Break Basketball.
He helps interview the students seeking executive board positions on the EBEF-SA. Along with his dedicated team at Susskind Dental, the SA has raised more than $5,000 in donations from local restaurants toward the much desired Dine-Around-Town raffle at the Partners in Excellence event.
Also associated with the dinner is a “Spectacular Limited Raffle.” First prize is a pair of New York Yankees Legends seats, including lounge with food and parking, donated by Anthony Yoseloff. Second prize is an 18-hole round of golf for a foursome at TPC Jasna Polana, complete with complimentary greens and cart fees donated by Paul Shur. Third prize is an 18-hole round of golf for a foursome at Forsgate Country Club, complete with complimentary greens and cart fees donated by Frank LaDuca. Fourth Prize is a “Dine Around Gift Certificate Package” that includes a variety of restaurants from around the area. Fifth prize is a 32-inch Samsung LED television, donated by See-More Appliances.